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A beautiful return to a bygone era for Woody Allen

BY JOE TYRRELL

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

MOVIE REVIEW

"Midnight in Paris" transports nostalgic moviegoers to a bygone era, that of Woody Allen's older, funnier movies.

Topped by charming Owen Wilson, who brings cosmic consciousness to Allen's traditional role of lead nebbish, the excellent cast inject genuine joie de vivre into some of the director's recurring themes.

An urban aesthete who lives for museums and cafés, bookshops and skylines, Allen has worked frequently in Europe since his lifestyle choices took the bloom off Manhattan's love affair with him.

After trying Venice, London and Barcelona, Allen and director of photography Darius Khondji have at last discovered Earth's greatest city, and they are smitten. Wilson's character, vacationing screenwriter Gil thinks Paris looks best in the rain, but whatever the weather or the time, "Midnight in Paris" is beautiful.

This vision is sanitized for our protection: past or present, there are no burning banlieues, hungry prostitutes or street manifestations in Woody Allen's Paris. Of course, that's the same as his New York, filled with the well-off and well-intentioned.

This is a world of wish fulfillment, based on the wishes of graduate students and their professors. A successful Hollywood screenwriter who considers himself a hack, Gil dreams of recreating himself as a starving but serious expatriate writer.

Just his bad luck that he's engaged to Inez (Rachel McAdams), who enjoys Gil's credits and credit cards. She believes he "should stick to what you do best." Although grudgingly respectful of Gil's income, Inez's conservative parents are skeptical that he does anything "best."

Nevertheless, they are in Paris together, shopping for the impending nuptials, doing touristy things and running into Inez's old flame Paul. Played by Michael Sheen, Paul is another Allen regular, the pompous pedant who mixes fact and fallacy in his self-appointed role as expert on everything, even if that means arguing with the guide at the Musée Rodin.

That guide happens to be Carla Bruni, model slash singer slash first lady of France. Adding another layer to the joke, she's debating the identities and roles of Rodin's mistress and wife.

This is the genial setting for "Midnight in Paris," and it is fun. But the movie really comes alive when Gil goes for a late-night walk. An antique Peugeot pulls up, filled with party-goers who insist on giving Gil a lift.

He finds himself delivered to a club, where he is stunned to find a man who looks like Cole Porter at the piano, playing "Let's Do It." And it's quelle coincidence when a writer gives his name as Scott Fitzgerald (Tom Hiddleston). But Gil draws the line when the writer's lady friend introduces herself as Zelda.

Mistaking the reason for his objection, Alison Pill's Zelda agrees this soirée is boring, so it's off to Montmartre. Pill blows up the screen whatever she's playing, and she is in top form again. (Zelda Fitzgerald is pretty much exactly like everyone described her, Gil tries to explain to Inez, who doesn't believe a word.)

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