Woody Allen’s latest comedy is the
most charming film to come out in 2011, from the opening montage that shows
Paris at its romantic best, to the infectious enthusiasm its protagonist has
for the “City of Love.” Owen Wilson plays the typical Woody Allen character
(neurotic, literate, and articulate), but he plays to the strengths of his
charming personality so that he never comes across as unlikable, but wholly
endearing instead. Wilson’s character, Gil Pender, is a man in love with the
city of Paris more than his own fiancé, but that won’t bother you when you
notice how much she belittles him every at chance she gets.
Gil, like a lot of people, pines for
a better time in an era he is too young to have experienced. Specifically, he
is infatuated with Paris in the 1920s when some of the most influential
American authors inhabited the same square mile under the Parisian lights. Gil
is an author himself, but he has settled for the life of a rich screenplay
re-writer, giving scripts that mediocre touch that makes them sell so many
tickets. He is currently writing a novel that touches on the same themes of
nostalgia that the film does, and his bride-to-be is supportive of it only to
an extent. His fiancé Inez, loves the man who writes those scripts, but
couldn’t care less about the one who actually has ambitions and passion,
because let’s face it: where’s the money to be made from that?
While in Paris on a vacation to meet
with Inez’s (protective and pretentious) parents, Gil decides to take a walk
late at night to soak in the city’s landscape. When the bell tolls midnight, a
carriage arrives and Gil is whisked away to a party where the people are
lavishly dressed and the setting is primitive by today’s standards… To say more
would spoil the wonderful experience that is seeing Midnight
in Paris for the first time.
Woody Allen’s script is loaded with
enough charm and wit that there is no room for some of his more alienating
qualities. It’s a romantic comedy at heart, but it is fueled by both Gil and
Allen’s love for the city at hand. You’ll fall in love with what happens in
Paris at midnight right alongside Gil, just like you’ll fall in love with this
film.
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- Nick
