Rethinking Owen Wilson (Weekend Movie Talk Part 2)

Most of my friends have actors that they have an irrational distaste for. For Ryan it's Keanu Reeves; for Norm it's Johnny Depp. Corrie isn't a fan of either the Cusack siblings (but "School of Rock" remains the outlier she enjoys).

I have a few, some from television (David Schwimmer) and some from the movies. Owen Wilson has always been on my movies list. I'm not sure what it was about Owen, because I do like his brother Luke Wilson. It's at the point that if Owen Wilson is starring in something I won't be seeing it, and if he's in a guest role, the concept must be great. I'm sure the close connection to Wes Anderson doesn't help. I don't dislike Wes Anderson per se, in fact I think he's a highly skilled director with a wonderful eye for color scheme and frame composition. His forced whimsy irks me irrationally.

I didn't hate Pixar's "Cars", but it is probably their worst film from their Golden Age (1995-2010).

Anyway, we finally got around to watching Woody Allen's 2011 "Midnight in Paris."

I enjoyed it quite thoroughly, with all its awkward scenes and existential problems with being a rom-com of sorts.

It doesn't live like a traditional Hollywood rom-com, of course, but it counts in the largest strokes.

The opening is a montage of postcard views of Paris, far more than necessary to establish location, set to stereotypical "French" score. If you've been to Paris, you say to yourself, "Ahh...Pah-ree" and if you've never been you say either, "It looks so beautiful," or "Can any place be as magical as how this is being portrayed?" (Short answer: Yes.) It goes on and on, and I started to feel grateful to Woody for showcasing Paris and letting us viewers know that Paris is the real star of the film.

Then, after a brief interlude of blank screen, the montage starts again, only this time there is dialogue over it between a man and a woman. Both American, he loves Paris and talks about living there; she thinks that idea is preposterous and thinks that Paris is annoyingly full of French people and pretension.

Immediately you realize this couple is all wrong for each other. Owen Wilson plays Gil and Rachel McAdams plays Inez, an engaged couple in Paris to visit her wealthy and conservative parents, equally as disenchanted with Paris as Inez. Gil is a successful sceenwriter in Hollywood but is working on his first novel and thinks living in Paris would be the medicine his life needs---all his literary and artistic heroes spent time in Paris: Hemingway, Zelda and F Scott, Gertrude Stein, Picasso...

The big picture is the dissolution of their engagement. The fantastical smaller picture that makes the movie so much fun is that at midnight at a specific Parisian back alley corner an old style car shows up and takes Gil to the 1920s era Paris.

In the hours between midnight and whenever Gil arrives back at his hotel room safely in the year 2010 he befriends the Fitzgeralds and Hemingway and has Gertrude Stein read his manuscript. He falls for one of Picasso's lovers, but a falling out with her sees her head to Africa with Hemingway (who is equally bewitched by her). Once she returns to Paris (it obviously doesn't work out between Ernie and Adriana) she and Gil go for a romantic walk when a carriage pulls up and invites them in like the car did for Gil.

During their conversations, it becomes apparent that while Gil is in love with 1920s Paris and considers it a golden age, Adriana is in love with the Belle Epoque era of 1890s Paris in a similar fashion and considers it the true golden age.

The carriage takes them to that very same 1890s era Paris. During a conversation with her idols, it becomes clear that they all pine for the Renaissance, and Gil makes his breakthrough: everybody's current may be dull to them, so dull they look back with a glowing view, regardless of era.

Adriana decides to stay in 1890s Paris while Gil decides to return to 2010. It ends happily for him, which I was surprisingly rooting for.

All in all my feeling for Owen Wilson changed. By no means am I an expert on Woody Allen's oeuvre, but this has become my favorite film he's made.

Former French first lady Carla Bruni has a few scenes, which is pretty cool.