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Amazon.co.uk Review
Paris is a city that lends itself to daydreaming, to walking the streets and imagining all sorts of magic, a quality that Woody Allen understands perfectly. Midnight in Paris is Allen's charming reverie about just that quality, with a screenwriter hero named Gil (Owen Wilson) who strolls the lanes of Paris with his head in the clouds and walks right into his own best fantasy. Gil is there with his materialistic fiancée (Rachel McAdams) and her unpleasant parents, taking a break from his financially rewarding but spiritually unfulfilling Hollywood career--and he can't stop thinking that all he wants to do is quit the movies, move to Paris, and write that novel he's been meaning to finish. You know, be like his heroes in the bohemian Paris of the 1920s. Sure enough, a midnight encounter draws him into the jazzy world of Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, Picasso and Dali, and an intense Ernest Hemingway, who promises to bring Gil's manuscript to Gertrude Stein for review. Gil wakes up every morning back in the real world, but returning to his enchanted Paris proves fairly easy. In the execution of this marvelous fantasia, Allen pursues the idea that people of every generation have always romanticized a previous age as golden (this is in fact explained to us by Michael Sheen's pedantic art expert), but he also honors Gil's need to find out certain truths for himself. The movie's on the side of gentle fantasy, and it has some literary/cinematic in-jokes that call back to the kind of goofy humor Allen created in Love and Death.The film is guilty of the slackness that Allen's latter-day directing has sometimes shown, and the underwritten roles for McAdams and Marion Cotillard are better acted than written. But the city glows with Allen's romantic sense of it, and Owen Wilson has just the right nice-guy melancholy to put the idea over. A worthy entry in the Cinema of the Daydream. --Robert Horton
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
47 of 51 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Woody Allen's latest is beautifully written and a charming story that belongs in the top ten of his all-time greats. From the opening montage of lush, picturesque Parisian scenes the film is a love letter to the city of lights. Owen Wilson is perfectly cast as Gil Pender a Hollywood writer who has penned his first novel about a man who owns a nostalgia shop. Throughout his stay in Paris he hearkens back to the iconic characters who once roamed its winding cobblestone streets.
For everyone who sometimes ponders how life would be in another time, this film through whimsical storytelling and pure fantasy transports us. Perhaps that elusive world does not really exist or we are never truly content in whatever station we reside. Gil is enraptured with discovering the bistros where Ernest Hemmingway once wrote or the idea of living in garret with a sky light.
His fiancé played by Rachel McAdams who adroitly depicts a character both shallow and blasé and content to listen to the pseudo-intellectual musings of her onetime flame. To discuss the plot much further and divulge the magic twist would be a shame.
Midnight in Paris is a gourmet meal of delectably charming and playful scenes. Adrian Brody is riotous as a surreal artist and Kathy Bates deftly evokes a wise and famous writer. A character in the film remarks of seeing a movie but, she cannot recall what it was about or who was in it, not so with Midnight in Paris. It is a sweet, endearing and thought provoking film that will whisk you away into a sublime magical world.
For everyone who sometimes ponders how life would be in another time, this film through whimsical storytelling and pure fantasy transports us. Perhaps that elusive world does not really exist or we are never truly content in whatever station we reside. Gil is enraptured with discovering the bistros where Ernest Hemmingway once wrote or the idea of living in garret with a sky light.
His fiancé played by Rachel McAdams who adroitly depicts a character both shallow and blasé and content to listen to the pseudo-intellectual musings of her onetime flame. To discuss the plot much further and divulge the magic twist would be a shame.
Midnight in Paris is a gourmet meal of delectably charming and playful scenes. Adrian Brody is riotous as a surreal artist and Kathy Bates deftly evokes a wise and famous writer. A character in the film remarks of seeing a movie but, she cannot recall what it was about or who was in it, not so with Midnight in Paris. It is a sweet, endearing and thought provoking film that will whisk you away into a sublime magical world.
16 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
When one lives in and loves a city with an ancient history, such as Paris or Rome, it becomes very easy to sense the existence of an imperceptible permeability between past and present. It is as if one only has to wait for the light to change a certain way, or for a bell to strike a certain hour, and the magic will happen--for those who are receptive to magic, that is, and are willing to believe in the Magic of Place.
This is the premise of Woody Allen's latest whimsical flight into the imaginative world of Gil Pender (Owen Wilson), a self-acknowledged Hollywood screenwriting hack, who dreams of writing a novel, the protagonist of which owns a nostalgia shop. "What is a nostalgia shop?" asks one of Allen's characters. Anyone who has to ask such a question is assuredly immune to magic, and will probably not enjoy this film. Since I am a romantic and firmly believe in the Magic of Place, I enjoyed it immensely.
Woody Allen clearly loves Paris. His opening scenes, in fact, represent a paean to The City of Light, as for almost four minutes the camera, with an evocative jazz accompaniment, moves from point to point along the Seine, the Luxembourg Gardens, Montmartre, the Champs Élysées, the Tuileries, the Left Bank, among other locations. We are treated to views of great boulevards, narrow streets, steep stairs, roofs with chimney pots, as the camera's eye glances at brasseries, cafes, fashion houses, fountains, the pyramid of the Louvre, Notre Dame, the Opera, and the Tour Eiffel. Paris in the sunshine; Paris in the rain. And all that is before the opening credits, in which we see that Allen, as usual, has assembled an ensemble cast. And for a special treat, the actual film begins among the lily ponds at Monet's Giverny.
Although I enjoyed all the performances, I particularly liked Adrian Brodie as Salvator Dali (He seemed so perfectly at home in Dali's surrealist skin), and Kathy Bates as Gertrude Stein (She brings a convincing panache to any part she plays). Marion Cotillard is charming as Pender's love-interest from the past, and her costumes--in fact, all the costumes--are splendid. Michael Sheen, looking a bit like Tony Blair with a beard, plays Paul, a pontificating academic, who cannot resist showing off his knowledge--never mind that he is mistaken--to their Rodin museum guide, played in an engaging cameo, by the glamourous Mme Sarkosy.
"Midnight in Paris" deals with themes similar to those in "The Purple Rose of Cairo" in which the lines between past and present, between illusion and reality, become delightfully blurred. Magic, in fact, comes along in the form of a 1920 Peugeot, which stops and opens its door in invitation. If you accept unreservedly, it will take you along for an enchanting ride!
This is the premise of Woody Allen's latest whimsical flight into the imaginative world of Gil Pender (Owen Wilson), a self-acknowledged Hollywood screenwriting hack, who dreams of writing a novel, the protagonist of which owns a nostalgia shop. "What is a nostalgia shop?" asks one of Allen's characters. Anyone who has to ask such a question is assuredly immune to magic, and will probably not enjoy this film. Since I am a romantic and firmly believe in the Magic of Place, I enjoyed it immensely.
Woody Allen clearly loves Paris. His opening scenes, in fact, represent a paean to The City of Light, as for almost four minutes the camera, with an evocative jazz accompaniment, moves from point to point along the Seine, the Luxembourg Gardens, Montmartre, the Champs Élysées, the Tuileries, the Left Bank, among other locations. We are treated to views of great boulevards, narrow streets, steep stairs, roofs with chimney pots, as the camera's eye glances at brasseries, cafes, fashion houses, fountains, the pyramid of the Louvre, Notre Dame, the Opera, and the Tour Eiffel. Paris in the sunshine; Paris in the rain. And all that is before the opening credits, in which we see that Allen, as usual, has assembled an ensemble cast. And for a special treat, the actual film begins among the lily ponds at Monet's Giverny.
Although I enjoyed all the performances, I particularly liked Adrian Brodie as Salvator Dali (He seemed so perfectly at home in Dali's surrealist skin), and Kathy Bates as Gertrude Stein (She brings a convincing panache to any part she plays). Marion Cotillard is charming as Pender's love-interest from the past, and her costumes--in fact, all the costumes--are splendid. Michael Sheen, looking a bit like Tony Blair with a beard, plays Paul, a pontificating academic, who cannot resist showing off his knowledge--never mind that he is mistaken--to their Rodin museum guide, played in an engaging cameo, by the glamourous Mme Sarkosy.
"Midnight in Paris" deals with themes similar to those in "The Purple Rose of Cairo" in which the lines between past and present, between illusion and reality, become delightfully blurred. Magic, in fact, comes along in the form of a 1920 Peugeot, which stops and opens its door in invitation. If you accept unreservedly, it will take you along for an enchanting ride!
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase
It seems that Woody Allen was simply not at home in London - and Barcelona was only a little better. On the evidence of this movie Paris is clearly his second city after New York. The story is intriguing : Gil (Owen Wilson), a Hollywood scriptwriter, is on holiday in a picture-postcard Paris with his fiancee Inez (Rachel McAdams). He is struggling with his first novel and somewhat distracted when it comes to sightseeing and socialising. Then, alone in a street at midnight he finds himself mysteriously transported back to the Paris of the 1920s where he meets the likes of Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Cole Porter, Gertrude Stein and Pablo Picasso. Enchanted, if bemused, his enchantment increases when he falls in love with Picasso's mistress, Adriana. Together, they go back to the Paris of the 1890s, visit Maxim's and the Folies-Bergere and meet Toulouse-Lautrec and other French Impressionist painters. Returning to the real world of 2010 Gil decides to break with Inez and stay in Paris, whereupon he finds a potential new love with a pretty Parisienne who has a connexion with some old Cole Porter records. This is a cinematic conceit in the manner of Back To The Future, Pleasantville, The Truman Show and Allen's own The Purple Rose of Cairo. Quite delightful - and it's not every movie that boasts France's First Lady in its cast list.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Fabulous Film
Saw this at the cinema, then again on DVD. So that says something. If you want a detailed review see "Selb's".... I couldn't add to that... A perfect description.
Published 1 day ago by DEG
Utterly charming
If you know Woody Allen's stand-up work from the 60s you'll know the European vacation sketch with Hemmingway and Gertrude Stein. Read more
Published 2 days ago by Elke
I LOVE THIS MOVIE
Woody Allen has managed to create a film with a little fantasy mixed with reality to make a first class comedy, filmed with wonderful pictures of Paris. Read more
Published 23 days ago by Rosemary Wesley
Woody Allen at his classical best again
From the introductory title music till the closing credits, this film is oozing romanticism and love. Read more
Published 24 days ago by Whitchurch Gashead
Oh Dear
This must be one of the most disappointing films I have ever seen. The storyline is actually intellectually insulting, its so unbelievable, predictable and badly done. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Alicemay
And Hemingway punched me in the mouth
I was grumbling though most of this film. Much of it was hackneyed, self-indulgent and slow, but I felt it redeemed itself in the last ten minutes with the joke about time travel. Read more
Published 1 month ago by William Cohen
Tired stuff
I struggle with how many good reviews this film got... The love for Woody is still out there of course - and I'm a fan of a lot of his output. But not this one. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Sunshin lucas
Pre-knowledge a must
I enjoyed this film because I know Paris well. I think a lot of people, particularly younger ones would be unaware of the significance of the people the hero meets up with after... Read more
Published 1 month ago by G Hogg
Wonderful film
Best film Woody Allen has made in years, if you want cheering up then this should do it. Owen Wilson is perfect, along with the rest of the cast. Lovely film!
Published 1 month ago by Summertime
Not really good enough
A cliched and poorly acted half-hearted effort. If ths wasn't a Woody A movie it would have been rightly ignored. Actually quite painful to watch.
Published 1 month ago by S. Bowden
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