The Grouchy Editor

There’s just one word to describe Woody Allen’s latest movie:  pleasant.  OK, let me add a second word:  slight.

Midnight in Paris is like an episode of Bewitched for intellectuals.  Instead of Samantha conjuring Benjamin Franklin, it’s “Hey, look, it’s Ernest Hemingway!  What amusing things might he say?”  And, “Over there – it’s Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald!  What were they really like?”

Allen’s silly plot, straight out of 1940s Tinsel Town, has downtrodden groom-to-be Owen Wilson – a blonder, younger stand-in for Allen himself – stuck in the City of Light with his bitchy, materialistic fiancée Inez (Rachel McAdams) and her WASPish, overbearing parents.  To Gil (Wilson), his future in-laws are “fascists.”  To the parents, Gil is “communist.”  Also touring France is Michael Sheen as a boorish rival for Inez’s affections, a role honed to perfection by Ralph Bellamy in Hollywood’s golden age.

All of these antagonists conspire to make Gil’s sojourn in Paris a miserable one.  So imagine his delight when, abracadabra, at the stroke of midnight he is magically transported to 1920s Paree – and the company of the Fitzgeralds and other legendary artists including Picasso, Gertrude Stein, and the gruff Hemingway.

Allen is using a gimmick here, but it isn’t all that strong, which is probably why it was used repeatedly in sitcoms like Bewitched.  The one virtue you might expect from this literary leap-of-faith – witty dialogue between Gil and his heroes – is sadly lacking.  Hemingway wants to fight?  That’s the best Woody can come up with?

Instead, we have Gil battling his cartoonish in-laws.  You wouldn’t think it would take magic to make a guy head for the hills to escape these people.

I did like the girl (Lea Seydoux, a charmer) that Gil winds up with.  There should have been more of her, and less of Adriana (Marion Cotillard), the flapper who gets away.  There is also some gorgeous photography of Paris.  And Allen is always amusing when his characters are making fun of the types of people who, well, go to Woody Allen movies.  Midnight in Paris is making a lot of money (for an Allen film).  I suppose that’s because of the gimmick I just slammed.  Serves me right for making light of Bewitched.               Grade:  B-

Director:  Woody Allen   Cast:  Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Kurt Fuller, Mimi Kennedy, Michael Sheen, Corey Stoll, Alison Pill, Tom Hiddleston, Kathy Bates, Marion Cotillard, Lea Seydoux   Release:  2011

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Seeing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 isn’t like watching a movie; it’s like watching eight of them.  The Potter franchise carries so much baggage – good and bad, but mostly good – that when you finally get to the end, it’s impossible to see the denouement as simply a two-hour entertainment.

So how does the grand finale stack up?  It was better than I suspected it might be.  Director David Yates, who somehow managed to remove much of the fun and magic of J.K. Rowling’s saga from the preceding three Potter films, partly redeems himself in this last chapter.  The whimsy of Sorcerer’s Stone and Chamber of Secrets is still missing, but Yates sets a brisk pace, avoids sentimentality, and stages one hell of an assault on Hogwarts.

What tripped up last year’s Part 1 is the same kind of thing that occasionally bogs down Rowling’s novels:  tedious exposition.  If the books have a flaw, it’s Rowling’s obsession with silly plot points.  Who really cares about the history of the Horcrux?  In this last movie, Yates and longtime scenarist Steve Kloves largely dispense with Rowling’s back story, instead concentrating on the final battle between Harry and Lord Voldemort.

Normally, I rail against the over-reliance on special effects in action movies; computer graphics all too often are the movie.  But in Part 2, the lengthy, elaborate confrontation between the forces of evil and our Hogwartian heroes is visually stunning.

Longtime friends are killed, long-anticipated kisses are played out in the blink of an eye, and a movie I feared might be one drawn-out yawn is instead a satisfying wrap-up to an uneven but often enchanting film series. To paraphrase someone famous, “All ends well.”         Grade:  B+

Director:  David Yates   Cast:  Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Ralph Fiennes, Michael Gambon, Alan Rickman, Evanna Lynch, Helena Bonham Carter, Clemence Poesy, John Hurt   Release:  2011

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The critics seem to love this road comedy – so why didn’t I?  There was only one thing I could do:  I had to make The Trip twice.

On my first viewing, I thought the film’s British humor might have whizzed past me because comedy does not always travel well.  Or maybe I simply had trouble deciphering the actors’ heavy accents.  For whatever reason, I was not particularly taken with this two-hour expansion of a popular English television series.

Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon play fictionalized versions of themselves, two moderately successful actors.  Coogan is the insecure playboy, and Brydon is the contented family man.   After his latest girlfriend splits, Coogan invites sort-of pal Brydon to join him on an excursion to the north of England, expenses paid by a magazine for which Coogan, hopefully, will write an article about the culinary delights found at country inns.

The two aging performers do much of their communicating – too much of it – through celebrity impersonations.  Amusing at first, this kind of repartee can grow tiresome.  Somewhere after the fifth or sixth such scene, I vowed never again to watch a Michael Caine movie.

But the critics loved this film.  So I watched it a second time and — surprise! —  it seemed much better.  The constant barrage of movie-star mimicry became less irksome.  I began to soak in the beautiful northern England landscapes, and to salivate at the sight of golden scallops soaked in butter.

The Trip grew on me mostly because Coogan and Brydon grew on me.  Much of the screenplay’s wit stems from the way these two decidedly heterosexual males interact.  They can discuss “soft” topics like Coleridge’s poetry and gourmet dining only if they also come with a side of competition, a dash of homophobia, and a bit more competition.

But there was still too much yakking, even on my second viewing.  The Trip is at its best when it stops long enough for some introspection – primarily by Coogan, who is confronted with his past (a woman with whom he once had a one-night stand – or so he thinks), his present (is Brydon’s dull-yet-happy home life a better way to live?) and his future (an old bore who ensnares him on a rock-climbing expedition; is it Coogan’s destiny to wind up like this old coot?).

In the end, I enjoyed The Trip and I recommend it.  I just hope you don’t have to watch it twice.      Grade:  B

Director:  Michael Winterbottom  Cast:  Steve Coogan, Rob Brydon, Claire Keelan, Margo Stilley, Rebecca Johnson, Dolya Gavanski, Kerry Shale  Release:  2011

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