Absolutely brilliant. 

I’ve been very much looking forward to this for several months now. My yearning wasn’t exactly alleviated by it being the talk of the town at Cannes. 

I really believe this was Woody Allen’s best film since Crimes and Misdemeanors (I say that having loved Match Point and Vicki Christina Barcelona) Critics will speak of directors being “in their element” or “at ease”. Those descriptions really do hold true for this film. You feel as though you were on the journey with Allen and the protagonist, as opposed to trying to figure out what Woody is trying to tell you.

It was a witty script. Filled with philosophical conversations (on par with most Allen films) If you have an appreciation of early 20th century art and literary history, you’ll absolutely adore this film. It was very well cast. My early call: Corey Stoll will get a Supporting Actor nod for his role as Ernest Hemingway (at the very least some serious consideration). He was just fantastic, and I think this will be the beginning of more significant big screen roles for him.  I was pleasantly surprised by the depth of Owen Wilson. The score complimented the film very well, but wasn’t overtly memorable. Very good cinematography, but Allen’s goal was to let Paris’ natural beauty do the leg work, as evidenced by the opening montage. 

My favorite aspect of the film was the latest Woody Allen take on infidelity. In this case, the dominant affair was not with another person but with a “better time”. It was out of the box for Allen, and worked to perfection.

I thought the film trailed off a bit towards the end, which was disappointing considering its length, but the motif in the final scene, and how Woody tied it together, more than made up for it and made you fall in love with the film all over again. Just a wonderful romantic comedy. See this as soon as you can. You won’t be disappointed.