This review contains spoilers.
Woody Allen’s latest effort is an English literature major’s wet dream. It’s a whimsical, lighthearted tale about time travel. Owen Wilson and Rachel McAdams are a typical American couple, in love and going to visit Paris before getting married. Owen Wilson plays Gil, a self-described Hollywood hack who never gave writing a novel a real chance. He dreams of landing among the greats of American authors. Rachel McAdams plays Inez, who comes from the WASPiest of WASPs. She has ridiculous friends and loves the idea of culture, but not necessarily being surrounded by it at all times. Gil wants to live in Paris; she wants a huge house in Malibu. He loves to reminisce about bygone eras; she loves to plan ahead for the future.
The movie centers around the two and their relationship. One night, after a wine tasting on a beautiful rooftop, Gil decides to wander off by himself. He gets lost, sits down, and a clock strikes midnight. An immaculate Peugeot stops in front of him and a group invites Gil to their party. At the party Gil meets Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald. He gets lost in the nostalgia of the roaring twenties. Woody Allen never attempts to explain the time travel magic, and it never really feels necessary to do so.
The movie does extremely well at portraying at least what I understood to be some essential characters of the era’s art. Corey Stoll is fucking outstanding as Hemingway. Zelda is played pretty phenomenally by Alison Pill. The movie’s overall appeal, though, is due to Owen Wilson. He’s always pretty decent at playing sincere and he goes above and beyond here.
I would have liked the movie much better if it didn’t try to beat you over the head with the message. There were some decent jokes (Michael Sheen’s entire character), and some I could have done without (Exterminating Angel reference). Overall, it seemed a little long and maybe went a little far with the trademark Woody Allen functionality. It’s not the best movie in the world, and it’s definitely not meant for everyone, but give it a chance.
3 out of 4 stars.
