Midnight in Paris

This weekend, my husband and I went to see Woody Allen’s newest film, Midnight in Paris. It is absolutely delightful and is one of my favorite movies of the year. The film is charming and clever, with performances that are pitch-perfect.

First and foremost, I love Woody Allen. His sense of humor and writing are nothing short of brilliant. I know he is the type of comedic writer that people either love or hate and I fall into the former category. I can’t help but love the quirks, idiosyncrasies and layers that he gives his characters. They are all flawed in some way, making them completely relatable.

I also love that Allen frequently treats the settings of his stories as characters themselves. There’s New York in Annie Hall and Manhattan, London in Match Point, more recently, Barcelona in Vicky Cristina Barcelona and now the majestic “city of lights” in Midnight in Paris. I don’t want to give away too much. Basically, the film is about Gil, played by Owen Wilson as a successful Hollywood screenwriter who wants to leave the superficiality of that world behind and dreams of nothing more than writing a novel in Paris. His fiancée, Inez, played by Rachel McAdams would prefer to live in Malibu, finds Gil to be boring, and thinks Paris is “corny”. They’re not exactly a match made in heaven. What happens when Gil goes for a stroll at midnight on his own one night is nothing short of magical. I’ll say this much—this film features so much of what I love: a beautiful city, in this case Paris, a bit of the past, some incredible artists and writers, mixed with Woody Allen’s brilliant comedic timing.

While the trailer is good, it only begins to hint at the magic that unfolds in this beautiful film. If you’re a fan of Woody Allen, Paris, and the great artists and writers of the twentieth century, I highly suggest that you see Midnight in Paris.

{Images Courtesy of Sony Classics}