“Midnight In Paris” : 8 ½
Finally, a summer flick that I can enthusiastically recommend to audiences of all ages.
“Midnight In Paris” is one of those feel-good pictures, complete with romance, conflict and a myriad of glitzy scenes through the streets of Paris, about a young man (played by Owen Wilson) on vacation with his fiancé (Rachel McAdams) and her parents, when the relationship begins to drift.
Owens plays an ambitious novelist with a heart for nostalgia and a mind-set in the past, admiring the good old days, much the way we’ve heard our parents talk about the old days being the greatest. In this story, the young writer finds himself more than thinking about it, as he comes across such notables as Ernest Hemingway and Gertrude Stein (played by Kathy Bates), complete with period scenery, costumes, music and dialect. It’s a trip into the present as well as the past, genuinely funny, curious and sentimental. It’s a welcome departure from the mindless chick-flicks usually starring Owen Wilson.
Definitely refreshing to see a movie minus car crashes, no high speed chases, no gunfire or decapitations, no loud rock music, just a good story line and great chemistry between the actors. Best of all, there is a final message for us all to think about.
Written and directed by Woody Allen, who is not always among my favorites, does a fine job on this movie. It won’t win any Oscars, but it should rate among the best of the year in terms of enjoyability and just plain good entertainment… especially if you love Paris.
You won’t be sorry.
