Tuesday’s Top Trailer: Midnight in Paris

Welcome to a weekly feature here at Movies with Abe, Tuesday's Top Trailer. One of my favorite parts about going to see movies is the series of trailers that airs beforehand and, more often than not, the trailer is far better than the actual film. Each week, I'll be sharing a trailer I've recently seen. Please chime in with comments on what you think of the trailer and how you think the movie is going to be.

Midnight in Paris – Opening May 20, 2011



It’s an interesting thing to see the first sneak peek at the next Woody Allen movie. Mostly that’s because it feels like something incredibly familiar that you’ve seen before, and most of the time, it is. When Owen Wilson’s character wanders off into Paris and starts cheating halfway through the trailer, it isn’t a surprise at all because that’s what we’ve come to expect from Allen. He has a number of classics, among them “Manhattan,” “Annie Hall,” “Hannah and Her Sisters,” and “Crimes and Misdemeanors,” and few films that have successfully worked in the most recent decade, with the notable exception of “Match Point,” which is a considerable departure from his usual style and might as well be unrecognizable as an Allen film. Allen has been bouncing around from city to city, transplanting his characters to Barcelona and London in recent years without properly taking the New Yorker out of them. Now, he’s back to Paris, a destination he visited in the rather peculiar 1996 musical-tinged comedy “Everyone Says I Love You.” There’s no denying that Paris is a romantic destination, and having a group of American travelers there for a limited period of time is a great setup for a film. Owen Wilson seems somewhat of an odd choice to play the male lead, but hopefully it should work. I’m thrilled with the notion of Rachel McAdams having a role that may be just right for her, and I also love having Michael Sheen as a pretentious American. I’m pleased to see the very funny Kurt Fuller, currently appearing on ABC’s “Better With You,” in the cast, and I love the way he explains that the private detective has gone missing. Throw in Kathy Bates, Adrien Brody, and Marion Cotillard, and it’s going to be hard to go wrong. Could this be another “You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger,” a film which I gave a D? Let’s hope not.