Starring: Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Marion Cotillard, Tom Hiddleston, Kathy Bates
Director: Woody Allen
Rating: 4/5
Now I will happily admit that I never been much of a Woody Allen fan so, it’s fair to say, that I wasn’t expecting to like this movie - however I absolutely loved it!
Yes this is the first Allen movie that I can hand on heart say that I would watch again and thoroughly enjoyed.
Midnight In Paris is a romantic comedy about a family that goes to the French capital because of business, and two young people who are engaged to be married in the fall have experiences there that change their lives.
It's about a young man's great love for a city, Paris, and the illusion people have that a life different from theirs would be much better.
This is such a light and charming movie that you can’t help but get swept away in it all - just like Gil, played by Wilson, does.
Allen plays on this fascinating idea that we don’t ever consider the time that we are in to be a golden era and that time that has passed is a better one.
He beautifully brings 1920’s Paris to life as Gil finds himself going back in time as the clock strikes midnight. And the city of Paris is a character in itself as Allen really has brought the streets to life.
There is a real magic to this movie and it was completely different to what I was expecting it to be.
Owen Wilson is great as Gil and Allen really wants you to love Paris as much at this central character. He is supported by a great cast and he has real chemistry with both Cotillard and McAdams.
Allen has penned a great script and while it is dripping with nostalgia you never feel like it goes over the top - and you are left wondering what it would be like to meet the likes of F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway and Cole Porter.
This is a truly charming and bewitching movie that catches you attention from the opening moment before playing on our fascination of the past and people who have gone before us.
Midnight In Paris is beautifully shot and fabulously acted as Allen blends the past and the present in what is a hugely enjoyable film.
This is by a country mile the best movie from Woody Allen in many a year and deserves the Best Picture Oscar nod that has come its way.
Midnight In Paris is out on DVD & Blu-Ray now
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw