Woody Allen's 'Midnight in Paris' Opens Cannes

I have been a Woody Allen fan since the mid-1980s, when Hannah and Her Sisters changed my life (more on that later). Typically, he had a falling out with his American fans, mainly over the controversy surrounding his split with Mia Farrow and his relationship with Soon-yi Previn. But as with all great artists, the French know what to do with him, and they have chosen him to open the next Cannes Film Festival with Woody's new movie, Midnight in Paris, starring Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Michael Sheen, and Marion Cotillard.

There's just one problem here: the French can be a bit snooty about Americans filming on their turf, and this whole thing could backfire, like it did for Sofia Coppola's underrated Marie Antoinette (2006).

I only hope that this one is good. In 2008, I chose Allen's Vicky Cristina Barcelona as the best picture of the year (and Penelope Cruz won an Oscar for it), so I'd like to believe that he's somewhere near the top of his game. We'll see...