Café Society (2016)

Content by Tony Macklin. Originally published on July 22, 2016 @ tonymacklin.net.

Woody Allen's Café Society is champagne - but at times it's flat champagne.

It doesn't have the verve or clarity of Allen's other films of the last decade. Its characters are more shallow, and generally less distinctive.

It's Woody Allen, so it does have its moments, but it's glib rather than droll or witty or incisive.

I forgot my pen and feared that I might not record all the great lines. But I needed no pen. There were no great lines.

Set in the 1930s, Café Society is the tale of Bobby Dorfman (Jesse Eisenberg), who leaves the Bronx, New York, and seeks fame and fortune in Hollywood. His uncle Phil (Steve Carell), a high-powered agent, is a reluctant contact for Bobby. But eventually he relents and employs Bobby.

At his uncle's office, Bobby meets secretary Vonnie (Kristen Stewart) and falls in love with her. They become friends, although she has a boyfriend.

Relationships evolve, secrets are revealed, and plans thwarted. But their resolution is middle-brow. Not essential Woody.

When and how did Jess Eisenberg become a leading man? Woody doesn't have to star in his own films - Owen Wilson was a terrific stand-in for him in Midnight in Paris (2011). But Eisenberg doesn't hold up for the entirety of Café Society.

Eisenberg is acceptable as the naïve Bobby who arrives in Hollywood. He's engaging as the young dreamer who, as Vonnie says, has "a deer in the headlights quality."

When Bobby goes back to New York and becomes a successful nightclub manager for his gangster brother Ben (Corey Stoll), the headlights go off.

There's a facile change in character, but Woody doesn't bother to make it credible.

The film sputters to its conclusion.

In his screenplay, Allen drops in a lot of allusions to forgotten stars - Adolphe Menjou, Joel McCrea, Bob Montgomery, Irene Dunne, et al. And Vittorio Storaro's cinematography is a plus.

But the star of the movie is Kirsten Stewart as the fetching Vonnie. Her performance is the one thing that shines in Café Society.

She's the bubbly effervescence in an otherwise dry Café Society.

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