Reviews
The Daily Mail
Chris Tookey
"The real message of the movie is not the one that it seems to be labouring — that nostalgia is a trap — but that life and art are both worth the most meticulous re-examination and a life without art or romance is one that’s only half-lived."
06/10/2011
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Empire Magazine
Ian Nathan
"There is wisdom at work here. "
03/10/2011
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The Financial Times
Antonia Quirke
"...essentially shallow, a nostalgia trip. But still, it is a shallow treasure, and at times thrillingly felt. "
06/10/2011
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The Observer
Philip French
"[A] cinematic soufflé that rises to perfection, a wry, funny, touching picture, pursuing some of his favourite tropes and themes but with sufficient asperity to give a sting to the nostalgia it embraces. "
09/10/2011
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The Times
Wendy Ide
"[F]or the most part the tone is full of mischief and playfulness ... And because Allen is so clearly bewitched by the magic of the 1920s, we are too."
07/10/2011
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The Sunday Times
Cosmo Landesman
"The film has only one serious point to make, and that’s about assuming the past is always better than the present, which is an odd thing for Allen, who lives for everything old — Dixieland jazz, old movies, Cole Porter — to be saying. "
09/10/2011
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Total Film
Philip Kemp
"Witty, featherlight and openly sentimental, this is Woody’s love letter to Paris and the most relaxed, likeable movie he’s made in years."
06/10/2011
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The Los Angeles Times
Kenneth Turan
"With "Midnight in Paris," Allen has lightened up, allowed himself a treat and in the process created a gift for us and him. His new film is simple and fable-like, with a definite "when you wish upon a star" quality, but, bolstered by appealing performers ... it is his warmest, mellowest and funniest venture in far too long."
20/05/2011
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Screen
Mark Adams
"Woody Allen has a smart wit, and keeps things nicely paced and amusing and in Owen Wilson has found someone at ease with his flowing dialogue, even delivering the usual Allen lines about fear of death with genial ease."
07/05/2011
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The Independent
Anthony Quinn
"Where the comic rhythms of Allen's recent work have felt woefully out of joint, this one is frisky, fleet-footed and sometimes very funny. "
07/10/2011
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The Independent on Sunday
Nicholas Barber
"It's an airy, creamy profiterole of a film – and that could be why it's done better box office in the United States than any of Allen's previous, more cynical work."
09/10/2011
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The New York Times
A. O. Scott
"Not for the first time, but for the first time in a while, [Allen] has found a credible blend of whimsy and wisdom. "
19/05/2011
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The Guardian
Peter Bradshaw
"Wilson plays it exactly right: bemused, excited, throwaway, and Cotillard has delicacy and charm. There are real laughs, witty touches galore, beguiling cameos – and the film is actually about something. "
06/10/2011
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The Evening Standard
Derek Malcolm
"...as good as anything [Allen] has done for a considerable time. "
07/10/2011
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The Daily Telegraph
Tim Robey
"Wilson joshes the movie along. He makes its flimsiness fun, playing up the coltish excitability of a name-dropper who can’t help himself. "
06/10/2011
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Time Out
Dave Calhoun
"Allen aims for mild surprise and amusement rather than anything more heady. It’s all very recognisable but not tired, and the film’s lightly-played time-travelling element gives ‘Midnight in Paris’ a hint of boldness lacking in too many of Allen’s recent films. "
06/10/2011
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The Scotsman
Stephen Applebaum
"If Paris reinspires Gil, it seems to have done the same for Allen. He gets in a potshot at the US's actions in Iraq, while the film turns out to be far funnier than the limp trailer hints at. "
13/05/2011
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