Yes, No, Maybe So: "Midnight in Paris"
Friday, April 8, 2011 at 9:31AM It occured to me yesterday while writing up the Crazy Stupid Love trailer that we hadn't yet discussed the new Woody Allen trailer for Midnight in Paris. Despite the occasional Vicky Cristina Barcelona or Match Point the Woodster has been dwindling creatively for some time. Let us not speak of last year's obnoxious and unfunny Woody. So let's break this one down like we do: yes, no and maybe so.
I have to admit that that "But Paris after midnight... is Magic" beat, got me. Especially because the staccato images included Owen Wilson dancing. I am a firm believer that dancing makes most any movie better, no matter who is doing it and it also brought back warm memories of Woody's 1996 musical Everyone Says I Love You which I really loved at the time (I haven't seen it since. Does it hold up?). In fact pretty much everything in that little sequence of the trailer looked promising, though Marion Cotillard as Ideal French Woman is a bit...expected at this point. There are other French actresses you know. France churns out awesome gorgeous talented actresses with pretty much the same speed that Australia manufactures movie stars.
For all the surface excitement of the new "Woody Allen, World Traveller" film series (it kicked off with The Blondes in London Trilogy), he's still making pretty much the same movie every time: Unhappy well educated couples cheat and even the cheating doesn't make them happy. This happens whilst Woody philosophizes either through the characters or a narrator. The samey-sameyness of the filmography didn't used to be a problem when the films were as perfect or as imaginative or as funny as they once were. To be honest, I'd rather he stopped switching countries and experimented with switching genres. Lately he seems to just be doing dramedies that aren't fully dramatic or comedic. One of the reasons Match Point worked so well was that it was quite a serious darkly dramatic picture.
But I guess I am interested in seeing Owen, Rachel McAdams, Michael Sheen and especially In the Loop's Mimi Kennedy act within his universe.
The most promising aspect of the trailer is that it does not in fact, tell you the plot. It does what all trailers should do instead: set up the premise, leave said premise dangling in the air, allow audiences to wonder about What Happens.
Most of the trailer is familiar but then we get the sense that Something Happens and a P.I. is brought in but that P.I. disappears? This doesn't seem to be the same movie unless it's a red herring.
Are you a Yes, No or Maybe So?
I guess I'm a soft No based on what I see here -- and how much I actively disliked You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger -- but my vote matters less than yours. See, I religiously see Woody Allen pictures even if I don't want to. It''s kind of my personal annual thank you for him being such a crucial figure in how I came to love the movies.
Reader Comments (18)
See, I'm not a fan of the Woody Allen mystery movie, which is what this is kind of setting up to be. And I get the samey-sameyness you're talking about. There was very little creativity behind You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger, and the trailer looks like it's dipping in the same well. I would LOVE to be wrong.
yes - michael sheen playing obnoxious, kathy bates whatever she's doing in it, the streets of paris
no - woody's been disappointing me since 1995 (save for match point)
maybe - but i'll forgive a lot for that run from take the money and run through to bullets over broadway
so - i'll see it on dvd one of these years
Owen Wilson as "the Woody" is a great big NO for me (btw, he looks weirdly Robert Redford-ish in the poster). Michael Sheen however is a yes, and possibly his and Rachel McAdams' offscreen romance means great chemistry. My greatest concern is the genre-issue which you sum up so beautifully. This does seem really light and could be tons of fun. I'm keeping my fingers crossed, it's an optimistic Maybe so for me :)
On the subject of french women: We only get glimpses, but isn't Léa Seydoux the Ideal French Woman and Marion Cotillard more a Master of Ceremonies? That was my impression.
God, I so want this to be good, but Tall Dark Stranger was maybe the worst thing I saw last year.
Am I the only one who hopes Sheen's part is pretty large? He looks hilarious.
The thing I hated about You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger was that it was almost the exact same premise as Interiors, but without an allusion to The Awakening.
I'm a maybe so. I keep hoping that Woody will make another masterpiece, accidentally or intentionally. Not to mention I have a thing for Marion ;)
NO - Owen Wilson, Woody Allen.
YES - Everything else.
Argh. I'm conflicted.
Not enough Marion Cotillard in the trailer!
I've got a theory that Woody now only makes *really* good movies every three years - in 2005 he made Match Point, 2008 was Vicki Cristina, and now in 2011...? Maybe...? Not that I think he was churning out dogfood in between - maybe I'm still on Woody's wavelength more than most, but I thought Cassandra's Dream, Scoop, Whatever Works, and Tall Dark Stranger all had their charms (and, especially the case of the latter two, their flaws).
NO - I always set my expectaions for the next woody movie really low, so i never have been dissapointed with stuff like You Will Meet... and i'm even more delighted when a Vicky appears (gosh, it seems so long ago), so despite the fact i'm in love for Marion, i'm totally NO for this one
I really like Woody, but it's come to the point where I don't expect anything good from him. I'll watch this movie, but I don't think I'm going to like it. Whatever Works and YWMATDS were two of the worst movies of their respective years.
Oh, and I watched Everyone Says I Love You for the first time a week ago, and didn't like it very much. I found it too messy and not as charming as it wanted to be. I also didn't like the fact that Woody's character, in order to seduce a married woman, was using information she told her shrink in confidence (and nobody seem to make a bid deal out of it).
Even if I love Woody's films, for me this one looks only like a MAYBE SO. The last time I really thought that one of his films was truly great was with "Match Point"... and about "Everyone Says I love You", for me definitely it's great, as a matter of fact, is still one of my favorite films of Allen and I think it is one of his most underrated works; I have seen it many times, the last one some months ago, and it really hold up very, very well.
I sort of liked You Will Meet... just for not being Whatever Works, and coupled with the cast, that makes this a very slight Yes for me; though I too will trudge out to every Woody Allen movie opening weekend, no matter how bad it gets - which for me, remains Celebrity
Another vote for Everyone Says I Love You holding up well, or even improving: I watched it about five months ago for the second time, and thought it was still charming as heck.
The best Woody Allen movie of recent is Sweet and Lowdown. Which means he has yet to impress me in the last decade. I don't hate or strongly dislike the last decade of his work. The endings are the dog shit on decent or semi decent material.
Kathy Bates is the reason I'm seeing my first Woody Allen movie theatrically.
It's interesting to see the Woody Allen's films we dislike. I actively, but really actively disliked Whatever Works and Cassandra's Dream. I loved VCB and Match Point and found Scoop mildly entertaining and amusing. I feel mostly indifference towards You'll Meet a Tall Dark Stranger, though I think Naomi Watts could've been a worthy Mia Farrow-like character in some other movies.
I guess I'll eventually go to see this one, but for now it's a No for me. I don't like Owen Wilson, not as an actor or his public persona, I don't find attractive... So, nothing, nichtig, nada.
I recently spent a couple of weekends re-watching or watching for the first time some Allen's movies and... I think he should go back to the murder mystery light comedies or to the crime dramas about guiltiness (Crimes and Misdeameanors is my favourite one right now), and that he should forget for a while the guy in crisis that bla bla bla and that only shows his (ever increasing) misanthropy but adds nothing new or exciting. The best actor to play that character was him but it seems people don't want to see him on screen, and the many combinations he tries are sometimes unbearable (Larry David) or completely unbelievable (Jason Biggs) .
For my money, Everyone Says I Love You is one of Woody's best. Funny, sweet, and with musical sequences that work terrifically - on the terms on which they're intended to work. The mortuary number is my favourite, but all of them are great. Fantastic performances and lines, as well - Alan Alda and Goldie Hawn, in particular, have some choice moments.
I'm looking forward to seeing Midnight in Paris, simply because Woody's probably my favourite director and I always want to see what he has done next. I too feel that the last decade's worth of films hasn't been his best - although I do like Vicky Cristina Barcelona quite a lot and think that Match Point is outstanding - but even a mediocre one (e.g. Scoop, You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger) has some of the Woody magic. (I do find it hard to see much worth in Anything Else, though.)
So count me cautiously optimistic for the new one...and, like others, ever hopeful that he'll make another great film.
It is a very positive maybe so for me, I agree Mr Allen's last decade is hit and a couple of misses, but I think the cast seems lovely, and on a personal note, I happened to visit Paris while they were shooting the movie and run into Rachael Mc Adams on the street. I hope to revisit last August in Paris via Woody's Paris shots. But this is just me.
Nathaniel, the gorgeous Melancholia trailer hit the web. Will it be too bad if I kindly asked your own take on it in an Yes-No-Maybe So piece?
Well I saw the trailer and fell in love with the look of the movie. So I will be seeing it in theaters regardless 1) because of that, 2) because I love Wilson, McAdams, and Cotillard, and 3) I have never seen an Allen picture in the theater. I am ready to be disappointed but I must see Allen's Paris on the big screen.