Midnight In Paris - 2011 - 2½ Stars

Actors:  Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams
Director:  Woody Allen

Midnight In Paris is the apotheosis of worn-out, late-period Woody Allen - I don't mean apotheosis as the culmination of mediocrity, but it strikes me that perhaps this is the Best He Can Do.  I talk a lot on here about directors in their later years, and while this might be one of Allen's most visually striking films, the story and stakes are set in a land of material and emotional comfort.

Note:  Spoilers Ahead

I'm not going to re-watch this film, but I think if I did, I might see some sort of commentary on the nature of Owen Wilson's character's vision of 1920s Paris - could it be just self-generated hackery?  Are the 20s characters we meet so archetypical because they're coming out of the head of a comfortable Hollywood screenwriter, who has no grasp of subtlety or restraint?  I don't think that's there.  Ultimately the film is imaginative but in the end, it's just another restaging of Woody Allen's constant battle between the woman who flatters all his tastes and the shrew who detests them.