'Café Society' Serves up Middling Charm

In “Café Society,” his 47th directorial effort, the ever-prolific Woody Allen pays homage to the halcyon days of Hollywood, a bygone era during which the average American visited the theater at least once a week and movie stars were truly larger than life. The result is a charming and enjoyable, if thoroughly unspectacular, ode to the Golden Age of American cinema—one that teases at a return to form for Allen but ultimately falls just short.

Anchoring the film’s large ensemble cast is Bobby Dorfman (Jesse Eisenberg), a young, characteristically neurotic New Yorker who, at the start of the story, moves from his home to Los Angeles in hopes of joining the ranks of the rich and powerful. There, he becomes entangled in an unfortunate and arguably incestuous love triangle between his uncle; a powerful talent agent (Steve Carell); and his uncle’s secretary the beautiful and alluringly down-to-earth Vonnie, deftly portrayed by Kristen Stewart. Such a winding and admittedly tragic narrative, filled to the brim with dramatic irony, seems right up Allen’s alley. In its execution, however, “Café Society” fails to live up to its lofty potential.

The film suffers from its considerable usage of third-person narration, provided by the director himself. What was surely an artistic decision by Allen—intended, along with its old-fashioned title cards, to give “Café Society” throwback credentials—ultimately feels like a trope, stilting the movie’s plot and jerking viewers back and forth between the action and blatant exposition. Such is particularly difficult pill to swallow given Woody Allen’s distinguished status within the romantic comedy genre; one cannot help but imagine that a veteran and master like Allen could have opted for a subtler and more seamless technique to develop his characters and his plot.

The film’s other Achilles heel is its sprawling supporting cast. Despite boasting an impressive who’s-who of comedy heavyweights, most of the film’s characters play largely tangential roles and only serve to disjoint the plot with aimless comic relief. There is Ben (Corey Stoll), Bobby’s womanizing and criminally inclined brother who kills just about everyone who offends him and buries his victims’ bodies in cement. Also present in the latter half of the film is Veronica (Blake Lively), who, despite marrying Bobby, remains shamefully undeveloped as a character. Her main contribution to the film is a short and admittedly amusing sequence in which she delights in Bobby’s Jewish heritage, describing Jewish men as “exotic.”

All of this is not to say, however, that the film is a failure by any stretch of the imagination. “Café Society” is at its strongest and most heartwarming when Eisenberg and Stewart share the screen. The two actors, having previously co-starred in a romantic capacity in both “Adventureland” and “American Ultra,” possess undeniable chemistry and showcase it superbly. Eisenberg in particular is tailor-made for the role of a Woody Allen comedic lead. His nervous and frantic eccentricity perfectly embodies Allen’s idiosyncratic brand of humor and is indeed reminiscent of the director’s own performances in his earlier films.

Courtesy of noted cinematographer Vittorio Storaro (“Apocalypse Now,” “The Last Emperor”), “Café Society” is also visually stunning, boasting the same bright and otherworldly camerawork found in other comparable period works. But the film’s many redeeming qualities are not enough to elevate it to greatness. “Café Society” is vintage Woody through and through—just not Woody at his best.

—Staff writer Steven S.K. Hao can be reached at steven.hao@thecrimson.com.