Woody Allen not only scored his highest-grossing film in his illustrious career with Midnight in Paris, the writer-director earned a nomination for Best Picture.
Today Oscar Watch looks at the little movie that could, starring Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Michael Sheen, Carla Bruni, Tom Hiddleston, Kathy Bates and Marion Cotillard.
Midnight in Paris follows Wilson’s Gil, a frustrated writer who is soaking up the inspiration that is the French capital. The only thing is his fiance Inez (McAdams) fails to see anything joyous about the Parisian life. What’s a guy to do? Gil heads out for a solo walk at, you guessed it, midnight, and begins the adventure of a lifetime.
He is transported to the city during the roaring 1920s when a conclave of artists, musicians, writers and thespians made the locale their home. Gil runs into F. Scott Fitzgerald (Hiddleston), Cole Porter, Ernest Hemingway, Salvador Dali and Gertrude Stein (Bates). That ought to move anyone to put pen to paper and it does for Wilson’s Gil.
In the hands of Allen, this film is one part romance, another part comedy, with a dash of fantasy and all postcard to the City of Lights. Midnight in Paris is another of those Academy Award must-sees that has got to be witnessed before February 26 to fully appreciate the accolades that will be bestowed upon it on Oscar night. It is one of Allen’s finest.