FILM

USA 2011 94 mins Dir: Woody Allen Starring: Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Michael Sheen, Carla Bruni, Nina Arianda, Adrien Brody, Kathy Bates, Marion Cotillard

Woody's European vacation brings him back to Paris for the first time since his ill-advised 1996 song'n'dance flick 'Everyone Says I Love You'. Naturally, 'Midnight in Paris' is being hailed as a return to form. But it's mandatory for someone to say that about every new Woody Allen film. It certainly sees him in a more playful and whimsical mood than of late as he riffs on some of his greatest hits ('The Purple Rose of Cairo', that priceless Marshall McLuhan scene in 'Annie Hall', and so on). But here's a spoiler alert. There's a twist 20 minutes in that most reviewers have given away. I'm about to do the same. So if you don't want to know about it, turn the page now.

Owen Wilson gets to play the Woody figure this time, though he does so in his usual laid-back, slightly whiny style. He's hack Hollywood scriptwriter and frustrated aspiring novelist Gil, who's on vacation in Paris with his high-maintenance fiancée Inez (McAdams) and her right-wing Republican parents, who have an inherent dislike of the French. Things aren't going well, partly because Gil describes the Tea Party as "crypto-fascist airhead zombies," but mainly because Inez is more interested in shopping than in sharing his romantic reveries about the illustrious artistic past of the City of Light. Worse still, her insufferable know-all pal Paul (a great performance by Michael Sheen) shows up to argue with cameoing tour guide Carla Bruni. Wandering alone through the streets one night, Gil is beckoned into an antique car and finds himself transported back to the 1920s to hang out with the Fitzgeralds, Hemingway, Picasso, Cole Porter, etc. And who better to read his unpublished manuscript than Gertrude Stein?

Yes, Woody's Paris is as travelogue-y as his London and Barcelona, but there's a creative spring in his step here that's been absent for some time. The scene where Gil attempts to explain time travel to the surrealists (including Adrien Brody's splendid Dali) - and gives an uncomprehending Bunuel the idea for 'The Exterminating Angel' - is priceless. There's also a neat twist to Golden Ageism when he falls for Picasso and Modigliani's muse Adriana (Cotillard), only to find that she's bored by the 20s and dreams of the Belle Epoque. (Robin Askew)

website http://www.sonyclassics.com/midnightinparis/

Opens: October 7

Copyright Robin Askew 2011