Review of Café Society (2016) by Matt D — 13 Dec 2016

A rom-com with a mix of Hollywood flare and a gangster touch, Café Society brings the charm of Hail Caesar and the wit of Goodfellas. Perhaps those are two vastly different extremes, but like any Hollywood story, there's plenty of unexpected comedy along the way.

Although Woody Allen doesn't do a ton of acting anymore, he seems to have found a worthy actor in Jesse Eisenberg to continue the routine of having awkward, neurotic, and charismatic male characters to head his romantic comedies. 1930's Hollywood and New York are mere backdrops to this messy family drama. Eisenberg is joined by Steve Carrell, Kristen Stewart, Blake Lively, and Corey Stoll. But as with many Woody Allen films, the star is Allen himself. His direction lacks exactly that, direction. As Eisenberg's character goes to Hollywood with dreams of doing something, without having an idea of exactly what, that's kind of how the film goes as well. Allen does some interesting things with his characters but I failed to see the point. It's far more simplistic than most of Allen's other films.

As expected, the cinematography is beautiful and presents a nice background setting of 1930's New York and Hollywood respectively. You definitely get a sense of the dreaminess of Hollywood and the much more straight forward lifestyle of New Yorkers. Both are great in their own ways, but they do present a problem thematically. Whether it was intentional or not, when the film, switches its setting, the tone completely shifts and thus the film is frustratingly uneven. Could be a choice made by Allen, but a fluid film is always better than a jarring or uneven picture.

To his credit, Allen always casts his films well. Eisenberg could not be more perfect for his role as Bobby Dorfman, which is part of the reason why I can't say his performance was even impressive. He's perfect for the role because these are the exact same characters he always plays. I want to see him challenge himself more, and not in a film like Batman v Superman. The role should not be written for him, he should have to adjust his performance to fit the film. To me, that's the reason I felt it was hard to connect to Dorfman, I'm not sure Eisenberg had to do a ton of prep to get into character. But maybe that's why the role is perfect for him. Either way, the movie isn't good enough to garner any more dissection and it isn't bad enough to deserve any more attention. It's just okay.

+Setting, backdrop.

+Allen's writing.

+Eisenberg is Dorfman.

-But that's because he's essentially playing himself.

-Uneven in tone.

6.3/10.