★★★
This movie is a wonderful little summer bauble, especially if you like Paris and its history…which I do. Allen opens with wonder shots of the city, by daylight, night and (significantly) in the rain. This isn’t the real Paris with traffic jams and smelly markets; it the ideal Paris that is clean, engaging and romantic. It’s the idea of Paris.
Actually, it’s the Paris that Gil loves and sees. And Gil’s in love with the Paris of the 20s, too, so we visit that, too. With a certain amount of wit and historical fun tossed in. There are broad slaps at contemporary American politics and taste, and there are some funny stereotypes of historical figures from the 1920s and from the 1890s. All parts of Midnight in Paris are infused with Allen’s sharpness and wit.
I liked a lot of the acting in the film, too. Owen Wilson is a great Woody stand-in as Gil, and Corey Stoll managed not to blink once in his Earnest Hemingway directness. Alison Pill was an effect bi-polar Zelda Fitzgerald, and Mimi Kennedy was a perfect Buckhead Betty mother. Though some people didn’t like her, I thought Kathy Bates was great at Gertrude Stein, too. In fact, I liked all the actors and their characters but for Rachel McAdams as Gil’s fiancé. She took me out of the movie every time she was on screen; McAdams was the only actor who seemed to be delivering her lines as lines but with no conviction or creativity. Every minute she wasn’t on screen was a pleasure, though.
There’s no drama or great insight in Midnight in Paris. This is just a fun amusemen, a pleasant way to spend 90 minutes at play in a romantic comedy, in cultural history, and – mostly – in Paris. I was happy to enjoy the film just for what it was.
