MIDNIGHT IN PARIS

It's my favorite Woody Allen film since MATCH POINT. A weary Hollywood screenwriter hangs out in Paris with his fiancee and finds himself taken to the 1920s, where he encounters many members of that city's literary set. It's breezy and gentle, and though you see its moral coming a mile away it still registers powerfully upon arrival. There are some fine performances in it (when Adrien Brody slid onscreen as Salvador Dali I could only smile in anticipation), but Owen Wilson is particularly fine as Allen's on-screen surrogate. He's particularly relaxed but totally engaged, and as easily as he gives voice to Allen's philosophy (and he does it better than any of the other substitute Allens) it's his quiet moments that truly register - the moment that Wilson finally accepts, with a gentle smile, that yes, his dream is coming true is the best thing I've seen him do.