But when true inspiration and originality strike him, Woody never wastes the opportunity. And Midnight in Paris is such a gem, it will keep you thinking about it for days. It's a true Woody Allen: it focuses on the importance of art, our mortality and our disability to find satisfaction in our lives, in the time that we live in. But at the same time it feels fresh and unlike any of the dramedies we've seen lately. It lacks the R rated humor of Bridesmaids, or the heaviosity of, say, Hesher, and it falls in this film genre that can only most fittingly be called 'Allen.'
The movie tells the story of Hollywood script-writer Gill Pender (a sentimental, perfect Owen Wilson) who loves Paris most when it rains, and is married to a high-strung, dull, shopaholic daddy's girl, who just wants to get out of Paris and move into their future beach-house in Malibu (Rachel McAdams is excellent as an arrogant diva). Gill, however, is starting to get the idea that he should move to Paris, so that he can re-work his career and finish his novel: about a guy who works at a nostalgia shop, selling memorabilia from times long gone, but not forgotten. The character in Gill's novel is much like himself; he wishes he could live in Paris when the greatest writers and artists were inhabiting it - the early 1920s. And one night, as Gill gets lost on his way back to the hotel and the clock strikes midnight, he is picked up in a horse-carriage and driven to a restaurant where he meets the Fitzgeralds, Hemingway, and Cole Porter.
Without giving any more of the plot away, Midnight in Paris is a tale of nostalgia, emphasizing that idea some of us have that we should have been born at another time, when we would have been happier. For some it's the '60s, for others it's the 1920's, and for some it may be the Belle Époque. Like Vicky Cristina Barcelona, and all Woody Allen movies, it has an incredible supporting cast including Michael Sheen, Carla Bruni, Alison Pill, Corey Stoll, Tom Hiddleston, Kathy Bates, Marion Cotillard, Adrien Brody, and an appearance by French comedian Gad Elmaleh. Some of these people you know very well, and others you've never heard of, but each and every single one of them portrays a character that is heart-warming and well-developed, and you will want to see more of these actors in the future (some of whom have done mostly TV shows before appearing in Midnight in Paris).
Midnight in Paris is great not also because it is fresh, charming, and has an incredible cast, but because its only rivals are Woody Allen movies. It's reminiscent of The Purple Rose of Cairo (1984) and Radio Days (1987). The first deals with this idea that there is an alternate reality in which we could be living in, if only we were able to tap into it. And the second is about a character who is sentimentally remembering his childhood and creates stories and scenarios about various charming radio celebrities.
In short, go see Midnight in Paris. I'm certain it's already crossed your dreams.
