Cafe Society

Overview

The jaunty score. The neurotic guy looking for love. The comedy that springs from errors, manners, clever turns of phrase, canny observations, family altercations and romantic entanglements. Add it all together, and a Woody Allen movie materialises. Over the course of his 47 feature films and more than five decades in the business, the 80-year-old filmmaker has found his niche — and while there are definite twists, tweaks and exceptions to his usual formula, his latest film, Cafe Society, feels like something he's made several times before.

Indeed, starring as Bronx native turned wannabe Los Angeles player Bobby Dorfman, Jesse Eisenberg joins a long line of actors tasked with ostensibly stepping into the writer-director's shoes. An uncredited Allen himself even provides the film's on-the-nose narration, just to make the link even more apparent. Following an expected path, Bobby seeks both professional and romantic success: the former via a job with this Hollywood agent uncle Phil Stern (Steve Carell), and the latter with the down-to-earth Vonnie (Kristen Stewart), who also happens to be Phil's secretary. That she has a boyfriend complicates matters — as does her boyfriend's identity.

Even if you've never seen an Allen film before, you shouldn't have much trouble guessing where this one is going. Fans of the incisive Blue Jasmine and the delightful Midnight in Paris — which qualify as Allen's best films in recent years — should definitely temper their expectations. Admitedly, Cafe Society certainly improves upon recent misfires Magic in the Moonlight and Irrational Man. Still, the film never seems in any great danger of straying far from familiar territory.

The truth is, it feels like Allen is just going through the motions — and it would appear that he knows it, too. It can't be a coincidence that Cafe Society not only falls in line with his typical output, but apes many of his superior efforts, at times resembling a Hollywood-set version of the far more memorable Midnight in Paris.

Thankfully, while Allen appears to be on autopilot, his cast delivers the goods. Eisenberg, Stewart and Carell bring the energy required of their characters, while Blake Lively, Corey Stoll and Parker Posey prove dependable in secondary roles. They're assisted by their detailed period costuming and surroundings, and by gently glowing cinematography that threatens to steal the whole show. That the images prove the main attraction amidst the self-mimicry and fluff is telling, to say the least.