MIDNIGHT IN PARIS

Midnight in Paris is a lightweight fantasy, sure, but it's nothing less than a shocking return to form for Woody Allen, who's pulled himself out of his recent slump of truly awful movies by revisiting the magical whimsy that worked so well in The Purple Rose of Cairo. (That's the one where Jeff Daniels climbs off the movie screen to romance Mia Farrow.) Allen is back in control here, stirring fantasy and reality into something that is-despite the film's muddled logic and complete disregard for historical fact-both comic and winningly romantic. The result is that Midnight in Paris, while far from flawless, is one of the most purely enjoyable films Allen has ever made. (NED LANNAMANN)