Owen Wilson: 5 Awesome Performances And 5 That Sucked

2. Gil Pender - Midnight In Paris (2011)

There were only so many love letters Woody Allen could send to New York City, and only so many times he could be a part of them. As time moved into the 21st Century, he shifted away from his hometown and began to tell stories of Europe: shooting Rome, London, and Barcelona with the same eye of adoration that he did for NYC. To this day, Allen's best European-centered picture remains his 2011 release Midnight In Paris. Although he doesn't star in the movie, Allen's obligatory chattering protagonist is still present. Only this time he arrives in the shape of Owen Wilson, who substitutes the usual nebbish demeanor of the Allen lead for that of a slightly more confident and attractive character: a vacationing American screenwriter named Gil Pender. Allen's film depicts how Gil and his fiancee Inez travel to Paris for a getaway from America. After taking a midnight stroll one night in the backstreets of the city, Gil suddenly finds himself transported back to the 1920's. Astounded, he giddily confers with all of his literary heroes who swarmed over Paris during this period, and finds himself longing to be part of a time that happened way, way before him. Wilson wonderfully conveys the sort of yearning to experience another time period that everyone has mused about at one point or another in their lives, and in doing so reveals another excellent additional layer to his acting skill set. He is hugely appealing from beginning to end as Gil Pender, and utterly convincing in his love for the city, and injecting terrific bursts of humour all across the picture. Midnight In Paris is a nostalgic and beautiful movie, with Wilson's performance thoroughly mesmerising throughout.