Sheila Maffay-Tuthill reviews 'Midnight in Paris'

"Midnight in Paris" is a light confection of a film, frothy and buoyant but satisfying and rich too. And no, I am not writing this review on an empty stomach!

Anyway, Woody Allen was for many years a favorite director of mine, but I felt things had gotten a bit stale a few years back and missed some of his films.  This movie almost doesn't feel like Allen's work because it has little angst and so much happy spirit.

The story goes that Owen Wilson's character, Gil, a Hollywood screenwriter and aspiring novelist, is in the City of Light with his fiancee Inez and her affluent, conspicuous consumer parents.  Inez finds a lot of fault with Gil and seems most attracted to the Malibu beach house she assumes he will buy for her after their marriage.

Gil is a romantic and wildly charmed by Paris, while Inez seems jaded and only perks up when a certain blowhard American art expert, Paul (played by a scene-stealing Michael Sheen) is around.

The couples problems are obvious from the start, and with growing distance, Gil takes to walking the streets of Paris alone.  And beautiful streets they are. If you've not been to Paris before you will vow to make the trip after viewing this luxuriously shot film that really co-stars the city.

At the stroke of midnight Gil is magically transported through time to 1920's Paris. F. Scott and Zelda are there as well as Hemingway, Cole Porter, Picasso and the list goes on.  Gertrude Stein agrees to read Gil's novel.  This is his ultimate fantasy of Paris in the Golden Age, and he is giddy with his good fortune.

The actors playing the famous artist roles do a fine job and seem to be enjoying themselves-especially Kathy Bates as Stein and Adrien Brody as Salvador Dali.  Corey Stoll nails Hemingway to an eerie degree, also.

Gil comes to some large realizations about his life with the help of his nocturnal friends, and we are rooting for his character all the way.  You will leave the theater with a smile on your face and a burning desire  to purchase yourself an airplane ticket to the beautiful and incomparable Paris. You will also be pretty impressed with an old romantic named Woody Allen.