The latest from writer/director Woody Allen stars Owen Wilson as a Hollywood screenwriter and struggling novelist who takes a trip to Paris with his fiance (Rachel McAdams) and her parents (Kurt Fuller, Mimi Kennedy). Although he is in love with the city. Gil (Wilson) feels stifled by his conservative in-laws to-be and lacks patience for his fiance's friends, most notably the pedantic Paul (Michael Sheen).Then one night, while wandering through the city, Gil somehow finds himself transported to the Paris of the early 1900's where he meets a collection of his artist idols including Ernest Hemingway (Corey Stoll) and his wife Zelda (Alison Pill), Gertrude Stein (Kathy Bates), Pablo Picaso (Marcial Di Fonzo Bo), T.S. Elliot (David Lowe), and Cole Porter (Yves Heck). Every night Gil sneaks away, spending time in the Paris of his dreams, discussing art with the greats, and falling more and more for the lovely Adriana (Marion Cotillard).
Eventually Gil will have to choose between staying in the past with Adriana and returning to his present to deal with his his fiance who has become even more distant now that Gil seems (at least in her eyes) to be having a nervous breakdown.
Although playing on several ideas he's used in the past, Midnight in Paris has a light touch and Owen Wilson's nervous energy turns out to be a great mix with Allen's writing. You'll see the end coming far before Gil does, but the journey is well worth it. Like all of Allen's films, the DVD and Blu-ray are sorely lacking in extras but Midnight it Paris makes up for a lack of features with an entertaining story that Allen fans will surely want to add to their collection.
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