film criticism by maryann johanson | celebrating 25 years: 1997–2022
Wonderfully escapist, dripping with magnificently congenial charm thanks to the comic chemistry of Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt. Plus it’s sure to enrage people who use “woke” as an insult. Yay!
Midnight in Paris becomes the butt of its own gentle joke… perhaps the most Woody Allen joke ever, one that wraps up a paralyzing self-awareness in a redemptive self-deprecation to, finally and splendidly, laugh with great good humor at itself.
So it’s just like this crazy life thing, you know? You’re born, you do some stuff, maybe if you’re lucky you fall in love with the same person who falls in love with you — at the same time that person falls in love with you — and then you die.
