"Midnight in Paris" Is Blond and Bland

I don't understand why Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris is nominated for the Oscars unless they are all irremediable Francophile at the Academy. GH and I finally got round to watching it last night. The characters are one-dimensional, the humor weak, the pathos non-existent. You can see the plot turns coming from a mile. The message--"We all long for a Golden Age"--is hammered home mercilessly. The parade of famous writers and artists in Paris of the jazz age is relentless, a procession of cartoons. Kathy Bates as Gertrude Stein? You gotta be kidding. Owen Wilson and Rachel McAdams, the couple who find out that they are a poor match, are so blond and bland that they are like projections screens for passing vehicular headlights. Insipid.

Comments

Patricia Markert said…
I agree with you about the main couple, and had trouble understanding why Wilson's character was ever involved with her. But I enjoyed Kathy Bates as Gertrude Stein. (No kidding) And all of the other impersonators, especially whoever played Hemingway, and Adrien Brody as Dali, made me laugh out lout.

I guess I enjoyed the whole time travel fantasy, complete with beautifully costumed, well acted artists. Could this be a generational problem, that you would not enjoy the fantasy of traveling back to that time? Would another time serve you better?
5:03 PM
Jee Leong said…
Another Golden Age? Maybe. A time with more life and less art in it.
6:06 AM
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