Gay Paris at the Witching Hour. A.k.a. Midnight In Paris

Midnight In Paris

I had never planned to see this film (and it’s definitely a film, not a movie, this one). In fact, I wasn’t even aware of its existence until I learned that it would be playing during my flight home from Athens; which does mean I had to watch it on the small screen. By small screen I mean super old school 14″ CRTs perched up above the aisles.

Woody Allen’s latest effort was chosen to open the Cannes Film Festival this year, quite an honour in itself, particularly for a film boasting Owen Wilson as the lead.

I didn’t know what to expect, although when you find out Woody Allen is directing you immediately get an idea, until the presence of Mr Wilson chucks you a bit of a curve-ball.

Technically the film is something of a Rom-Com, although like many it’s pretty long on Rom and short on Com, not that it’s any the worse for it. It’s not from the Notting Hill end of the genre, aiming for far greater depth and subtlety.

Owen Wilson as the lead is actually a good casting choice, despite my initial reservations. As soon as you shake off the Wedding Crashers memories and accept the film for what it is, he’s actually ideal for the role. A typical writer, self involved, scatty and with an attractive girl, he wants to move to Paris on something of a whim, not just Paris though, 1920s Paris, the subject of his first proper Novel.

Bit of a spoiler from here on, so you might want to skip down to the last paragraph if you want to go and see this one knowing as much as me. I promise though, if you do read on, it doesn’t tell you anything you can’t work out for yourself pretty damn easily during the course of the film.

The story takes one of the traditional old formulas… Man with endearing innocence and friendly demeanor is with an attractive outside but ugly inside woman who he is so besotted with he doesn’t notice she’s wrong for him. He then meets someone else, who he slowly realises he is also into.

I can’t decide if Woody Allen is trying to be incredibly artistic with the character choices or if he is just being a little bit ridiculous because he can. In many ways the film only works because of their inclusion, and the main premise of the film isn’t very realistic; however although there is a fantasy plot-line, the film is not based in a fantasy world and there are times where I felt it was taken just a little too far.

All in all though, despite not blowing you away, it’s a solid film that has managed to derive a decent level of originality from a collection of ideas which have all been done before in different ways. Woody Allen is clearly a man who knows the formula for a good film and although it hasn’t been hyped, this is a nailed on third date movie and brownie points will be awarded if you go with the wife, which I am sure most men could handle quite comfortably. With that in mind, I’m going to give the film a solid 3.5/5, which sounds low, but it works out as a 7 out of 10, which isn’t bad at all. In fact, if I did ratings out of 10 it’d probably get 7.5, so there you go. Worth seeing, but unless you’ve got a 3rd date, or need to find an alternative to flowers for your wife, not necessarily at the cinema, because in a year or so it’s gonna be £4 in a bargain bucket somewhere.

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