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Owen Wilson, Marion Cotillard, Rachel McAdams, Kathy Bates, Carla Bruni ... see more see more... , Adrien Brody , Michael Sheen , Corey Stoll , Mimi Kennedy , Tom Hiddleston , Kurt Fuller , Alison Pill , Nina Arianda , Léa Seydoux , Adrien de Van , Gad Elmaleh

This is a romantic comedy set in Paris about a family that goes there because of business, and two young people who are engaged to be married in the fall have experiences there that change their lives... read more read more.... 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. It stars Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Marion Cotillard, Kathy Bates, Carla Bruni, among others. -- (C) Sony Classics

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202 critics

PG-13, 1 hr. 34 min.

Directed by: Woody Allen

Release Date: June 10, 2011

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DVD Release Date: December 20, 2011

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Flixster Reviews (8,987)

  • fb1019018362
    December 3, 2012
    fb1019018362
    I watch this movie with my crush. its getting awkward after watching it.
  • fb1664868775
    July 22, 2012
    fb1664868775
    One of the most enjoyable and delightful of Allen's films to me. Wilson was great as Woody Allen as well.
  • fb100000257973100
    July 13, 2012
    fb100000257973100
    Little known secret about me: I am obsessed with literature. Maybe it is a thing that came from my father, maybe it is due to me actually paying attention in school, I don't know. But what I do know is that Midnight In Paris is precisely the type of dream I would have and that is... read more the best way to describe this film: a literature and art lover's day dream. It is of no secret that Woody Allen would have a strong appreciation for literature and art (as his previous films have shown us), and I would consider this to be 2011's love letter to art and who else then one of the most gifted writers in cinema to present this?

    The story is one of charm. Owen Wilson is getting married and one night outside of a church he gets into a car that is filled with people he knows but never met. Some of these people includes the Fitzgeralds, Cole Porter, Hemingway, and countless others. It is never said if they are just parts of his imagination due to his love for Paris or this is really happening (I have my own opinion, but that is for later) and the film never gives an answer. But what I do know is that Allen never spends time on the idea if this is really happening or not. For the story, that is not important. What is important is his experience in Paris and how life changing it is.

    As I said, Woody Allen is one of the most gifted writers in cinema and this film, being his 41, is probably going to be his best film of 2011 â" 2020. I just can't see him topping this film in terms of writing and crafting. What really makes this film work is, not only the mature way it is told, but how this is a film that can connect with anyone from the film geeks to the people that just see a film for entertainment. Allen is the type of writer that, ironically enough, would have been better if he lived in the 1960 â" 1970s before everything became mindless entertainment (even though he did start writing scripts at that time). Here he is able to craft a film that grabs your attention and refuse to let it go. His direction of how he tells this story is that of a dream: how he changes the setting from modern day to the 1920s plus how he has each of these wonderful historic figures comes to life and his ability to pull the acting out of the actors.

    The other main power that this film has is Owen Wilson's performance. I am not his greatest fan, but here he is able to not only make the character lovable, but he is able to make him be able to connect with the audience and that little hidden desire we all have: leave our present and go into a time that we think is much better. But, now here is the thing: there are flaws with that wish. The present is unsatisfying for everyone because we are always living in a form of a renaissance and with this film, it proves that because Wilson wants to live in the 1920's but everyone he meets wants to live in a much different time frame. Also, as his character puts it, the present is unsatisfying because life is unsatisfying. Almost every character you meet has this theory pushed into their brains, but it is Wilson's performance that embodies it and the way he does so is simply fantastic.

    I know that, from how this sounds, I make it sound like that this is the first time a director has done this. I know that is not true. But in, what I am calling, the French Academy Awards (where a good chunk of films were somehow related to France/ French culture), this is probably in the top three films along side films like The Artist and Hugo. As I am writing this review, I have yet to see Hugo, but I am finding it a tad bit hard to believe that any of those two films can be this wonderful on a personal level. Critically, I liked it. Personally, I want to live in this film.
  • cosmo313
    June 3, 2012
    cosmo313
    This is Woody Allen's love letter to Paris, and not only that, but it is also his absolute best film in quite a long time. Sure, I gave very high marks to Match Point, but this comes closer than that to being a full 5 masterpiece.

    The story concerns a successful Hollywood scree... read morenwriter named Gil and his fiancee Inez on vacation in Paris with her parents. While there, Gil tries to work on a novel and do something more substantial with his life than just be a Hollywood hack. Through magical circumstances, he finds himself transported through a time slip at midnight to Paris during the 1920s, wherein he finds himself hanging out with his idols like F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, and Pablo Picasso.

    Inez, her friends, and her family all think he's nuts, but this just might be the best thing that's ever happened to Gil, and could very well be the spark he'd been searching for to make his life complete.

    This is utterly and completely, Allen, charming, nostalgic, and fun. It's impossible to watch this and not feel moved, delighted, and overwhelmed with happiness. It's all laid on pretty thick, but it never comes off as sentimental or sickly sweet in a bad way. It's light and fun, and easy to fall in love with.

    It's got some typical Allen-isms, but the situation it presents is well done, creative, and fun. Allen's not known for having much visual flair or pizzaz with his work, but this film has some excellent cinematography and definitely applies as a visual work of art. The city looks excellent, and the 20s scenes really come alive thanks to his touch.

    Owen WIlson does nice work as the happily perplexed Gil, doing the Woody role without coming off as a ripoff. Rachel McAdams is fine as Inez, but seems ot get overshadowed. Then again, it's kinda is approproate given the plot. The real stars though are the supporting players, namely Marion Cotillard as Picasso's mistress, Kathy Bates as Gertrude Stein, and Allison Pill as Zelda Fitzgerald. The others are good, but sometimes come off as more caricature and phoney.

    I really don't have a whole lot of negatives. Yes, I did mention how some of the performances stick out, but that's not a complete dealbreaker. The film had me guessing about how it would end, and I was partially right, but that also isn't a complete detriment to things. I think my biggest gripe is that the film had to end.

    Give this one a shot. It helps if you're already a Woody fan, as that makes it easier to get into, but you don't have to be a fan to fall in love.
  • danperry17
    May 30, 2012
    danperry17
    Keeping in mind that Annie Hall is still on my list of shame, this is the most charming of Woody's films I've seen. Made on a shoestring, in contemporary terms, it surprised everyone by bringing in over $50M at the box office, and being nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars. H... read moreere's why:

    1. Simplicity. The car as time machine? Cheap, sure, but why not? Easy to go with when it happens right at midnight, and a person from the past (Hemingway, T.S. Eliot, etc.) is already inside.

    2. Humour. I just found a YouTube clip from 40 years in which Allen, in his stand-up routine, hyperbolically claims to have been in Paris at the same time as Gertrude Stein, the Fitzgeralds, Hemingway and Picasso. His irreverence hasn't fallen off in the slightest, as he at once honours and satirizes these figures, particularly Hemingway, who talks as eloquently and masculinely as he writes, which is of course completely impractical in conversation.

    3. Romance. I don't know if anyone does a love triangle like Allen does - and this film is full of them. Though in Paris for their wedding, Gil (Owen Wilson) and Inez (Rachel McAdams) begin growing apart, and temptations abound around them, both immediate and dreamlike.

    4. Scopophilia. Paris is beautiful. Woody's a beautiful cinematographer. Every shot is, well... beautiful...

    5. Acting. This could end up being Wilson's defining role, as the bumbling writer who stumbles into his dreams, and McAdams, for her part, plays his incredibly mean, condescending fiancee to a tee. It's said, in fact, that while shooting, McAdams had to keep being told, "Be meaner," and the result is that the conservative, pretty-but-little-else character from Wedding Crashers returns as a much deeper character. Also of note: Adrien Brody's small role as Salvador Dali. It's a complete caricature, but it's hilarious.

    6. Timelessness. To spoil a little, the film's message ends up being a sort of temporal grass-is-always-greener one: every era has an era before it on which they look longingly, wishing they had been alive then. It's another human truth that will never go away, and as he's done so many times already, Allen's put his finger right on it.

    It's not just his best movie in years, or since Vicky Cristina Barcelona, even; it's one of the best he's ever made. Here's hoping his late-career renaissance will accompany him to Rome!
  • paulsandberg
    May 18, 2012
    paulsandberg
    If I were to sit back and reflect upon this film, I could easily see the threads that hold it together - the one trick pony of its gimmick and the tired love/not love story that is holding the center (a theme we've seen a million times before, not to mention several times by Wood... read morey himself).

    But.... And my, that's a very large but - while you are watching the film you are swept away by the lovely whimsy - the romance for a city and for a time and place - the romantic notion that sometimes something magical can happen; and that is not only by definition but by inference, ART. That this film is marginally about art and what art has to say (while being in and of itself a bit of art), is half the fun.

    The other half of the fun is seeing who will turn up next. Not going to spoil the surprise of the film's gimmick, just mention that I enjoyed every minute of it. The film even gets high marks for remaining sweet and somewhat sentimental, even while presenting the argument (in a beautifully compelling way) that we all think that the grass is greener. Perhaps this resonates well with me, as I have all but abandoned popular music while still being mightily impressed by the creative output of the 60's and 70's of my youth.

    The true beauty here is the film's pacing and style. Beautifully filmed with lot's of indirect yellow lighting, making the city of light seem wonderfully surreal - which is part and parcel of the script. Wonderful performances abound - especially in some of the lesser, near cameo roles (Adrian Brody comes to mind, playing the character billed only as Salvador). Of course at the film's center is Owen Wilson, who channels the humor and neurosis of Woody perfectly.

    In conclusion, if you want to sit back and analize the film, you can certainly poke some holes in it - but I don't think that the film will allow you to do so while watching it - unless you don't believe in magic, you'll be swept along - so just sit back and let this film wash over you... to quote a lyric from MY favorite time - "turn off your mind, relax and float downstream".
  • LWOODS04
    May 9, 2012
    LWOODS04
    Cast: Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Marion Cotillard, Michael Sheen, Adrien Brody, Kathy Bates, Carla Bruni, Gad Elmaleh, Kurt Fuller

    Director: Woody Allen

    Summary: In this charming romantic comedy, legendary director Woody Allen focuses his lens on an engaged young couple whos... read moree experiences traveling together in Paris make them begin to question the kind of life they want to live.

    My Thoughts: "I guess I am one of the few who thought the film was visually beautiful but terribly boring. The strolls around paris was a great part of the film because of the beautiful surroundings. I did enjoy some of the character's, like Kathy Bates as Gert, Corey Stroll as Ernest and Adrien Brody as Salvador. Rachel and Michael play very annoying characters in this film. I didn't care for either of them. Midnight was the best part of the film. The rest wasn't needed. It has a great cast, no doubt. But I got bored with the film very quickly and couldn't wait for it to be over with. It was a miss for me."
  • fb1710827246
    May 3, 2012
    fb1710827246
    Beautifully funny with really quirky story that's both uniquely honest and remarkably charming.
  • SirPant
    March 26, 2012
    SirPant
    I think Midnight in Paris is quite self-indulgent of Woody Allen, it certainly feels personal. This is a good thing in my book and the reason why it's so good - easily the best he's made since his last real self-indulgent film, Sweet & Lowdown. There are 3 different types of Wood... read morey Allen film though, there's the all out comedy, the romantic comedy where the comedy is more subtle and the then there are the films he directs but doesn't star in - or at least, someone else plays him (In this case, Owen Wilson). Sometimes these cross over but when they work they work, when they don't they are horrible. It's odd how someone can make such an awful film like You will meet a tall dark stranger one year, and Midnight in Paris the next but what he has essentially don't is mixed the three main components of his films together and has eased off the stuff the audiences obviously don't like as much. I thought it was great, I loved it. I think his follow up should be a comedy biopic of Dali played by Adrien Brody, fat chance but wouldn't it be great.
  • spielberg00
    March 24, 2012
    spielberg00
    To say the very least, MIDNIGHT IN PARIS is by far one of the best films made in 2011. It takes a certain knowledge and appreciation of Woody Allen to understand the poetic humor put on display, but one who can appreciate that different type of humor will surely find this to be ... read moremore than just an enjoyable romantic comedy. One who has that sense of humor will understand how utterly hilarious this truly is.

    Ranked #5 of 2011.

    Full Review: http://wp.me/p1Urcx-zE

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Critic Reviews

Dave Calhoun
October 5, 2011
Dave Calhoun, Time Out

It's fun and it's most welcome. Full Review

Joe Williams
June 10, 2011
Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch

"Midnight in Paris" is a bonbon to ease the craving for Allen's earlier, funnier films. Full Review

Tom Long
June 10, 2011
Tom Long, Detroit News

Midnight in Paris is a loving embrace of the city, of art and of life itself. Full Review

Rick Groen
June 3, 2011
Rick Groen, Globe and Mail

Our hero has found his groove among the Lost Generation and, for us, there's some amusement to be had in sharing Gil's thrills -- it's like stepping into a Classic Comics version of A Moveable Feast. Full Review

Lisa Kennedy
June 3, 2011
Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post

Midnight in Paris is charming and clever, at times wickedly astute and hopeful. Full Review

David Thomson
June 3, 2011
David Thomson, The New Republic

Woody Allen attracts promising players and does nothing with them. Full Review

Gary Thompson
June 3, 2011
Gary Thompson, Philadelphia Inquirer

There is breezy comedy to be made of a YouTube-age writer meeting the icons and idols of a bygone, classical era, but Allen goes deeper, expanding on his time-travel device to make unexpected and unex... Full Review

J. R. Jones
June 2, 2011
J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader

I find this upfront fantasy to be his funniest, most agreeable comedy in years. Full Review

Chris Vognar
June 2, 2011
Chris Vognar, Dallas Morning News

Woody Allen's beleaguered heroes have never been reluctant to indulge in a little fantasy to get what they want. Full Review

Moira MacDonald
June 2, 2011
Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times

It makes us happily remember the movies we thought Allen wasn't able to make anymore, even while the filmmaker reaches into the past to add one more great one to the list. Full Review

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    • Ernest: I believe that love that is true and real, creates a respite from death. All cowardice comes from not loving or not loving well, which is the same thing. And then the man who is brave and true looks death squarely in the face, like some rhino-hunters I know or Belmonte, who is truly brave... It is because they make love with sufficient passion, to push death out of their minds... until it returns, as it does, to all men... and then you must make really good love again.
    • Paul: Nostalgia is denial - denial of the painful present... the name for this denial is golden age thinking - the erroneous notion that a different time period is better than the one ones living in - its a flaw in the romantic imagination of those people who find it difficult to cope with the present.
    • Gil: Adriana, if you stay here though, and this becomes your present then pretty soon you'll start imagining another time was really your... You know, was really the golden time. Yeah, that's what the present is. It's a little unsatisfying because life's a little unsatisfying.
    • Gert: The artist's job is not to succumb to despair but to find an antidote for the emptiness of existence.
    • Gil: That's what the present is. It's a little unsatisfying because life's a little unsatisfying.
    • Ernest: No subject is terrible if the story is true, if the prose is clean and honest, and if it affirms courage and grace under pressure.
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Midnight in Paris Trivia

  • Woody Allen has never spent a lot of cash on his films; this one cost $17 million (a bargain, given its cast) and made $145 million, his biggest ever box office total.  Answer »
  • Who stars in Midnight In Paris?  Answer »
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