Café Society

Set in the 1930s, Café Society follows Bronx native Bobby Dorfman (Jesse Eisenberg) as he arrives in Hollywood and almost immediately begins working for his powerful movie-agent uncle (Steve Carrell’s Phil) – with the narrative primarily revolving around the tentative romantic relationship that forms between Bobby and Kristen Stewart’s Vonnie. It’s ultimately clear that Café Society fares best in its lighthearted and almost compulsively watchable first half, as writer/director Woody Allen does a marvelous job of establishing the movie’s opulent atmosphere and the various characters residing within. In terms of the latter, Café Society boasts an impressive roster of performers that includes, among others, Corey Stoll, Parker Posey, and Blake Lively – although it remains clear that the film’s success is due in no small part to the efforts of its three stars. (Eisenberg is especially strong here, as the actor generally drops the twitchy and fast-talking persona with which he’s associated.) And while the whole thing is very charming and completely affable, Café Society eventually does reach a point at which it slowly-but-surely loses its grip on the viewer – with the narrative’s third-act shift in locale from Los Angeles to New York wreaking havoc on the movie’s momentum and paving the way for a palpably erratic final half hour. The somewhat repetitive bent of that climactic stretch only compounds the decidedly uneven feel, and it is, in the end, obvious that Café Society falls right in line with much of Allen’s good-but-not-great output as of late.

**1/2 out of ****