Let me just begin by saying I hate all Woody Allen films. I can’t stand his comedy, his style, basically just him in general. But considering how obsessed I am with the Lost Generation, I figured I’d give this film a try.

Let me tell you, it was gold. Even if you’re not an uber Lost Generation fan like me, you can’t help but fall in love with the film and the ideas it presents. There has been some time or another where we have all sat down and thought ” I was born in the wrong era”.

That’s exactly what Owen Wilson thinks in this film. An aspiring novelist, he writes screenplays to keep his fiance happy. He has a great life in the present, a beautiful (if not stupid and rude beyond belief) wife, prospects, a big house in Florida,but he dreams of one place: Paris in the 20’s in the rain.

On night he goes out for a walk, and an ancient car transports him back in time to meet his idols, and a few of their friends. The film features cameos from Hemingway, Zelda and Scott Fitzgerald, Dali, Picasso, and many more.Each character is represented perfectly, from Hemingway’s pessimistic and blunt dialouge, to Scott’s fascination with Zelda’s ditzy personality. Night after night he meets with these people, and becomes one of their inner circle.

It’s strange how Owen Wilson is almost a mirror image of Nick from the Great Gatsby. he seems to fit  in with the crowd, but no matter how much he loves being a part of their world, he will never truly belong. And oh how he loved it, especially after he met Marion.

Picasso’s lover, the flapper,fell in love almost instantly with the young writer. However it seemed more like understanding than love. She too believed she belonged in another time, she thought Paris was in it’s prime in the 1900s.

Owen Wilson tries to get her to see that she’s living in the golden age of Paris, but try as he may when a carriage comes and transports them to the 1900s, he can’t persuade her to return back to the 20s with him. He then makes the grand realization of the movie. The past always has a beckoning glow to it because it’s something different and exciting, but there was no perfect time, there wasn’t even a better time than the present.

The one of the  grand themes of The Great Gatsby is wanting to return to the past, and realizing that you can’t.

“‘You can’t repeat the past….’

“Can’t repeat the past? Why of course you can!'”

Although Owen Wilson has the ability to stay in the twenties and live the life he’s always dreamed of (the superior choice I would have made), he decides to take control of his own life in the present, and sets out carve a new for himself in this brave new world.

So I implore you, watch this film that is really really good, despite it’s director Enjoy the beauty of Paris and the complete and utter confusion that is Salvador Dali.