It's late 1930's. Bobby Dorfman (Jesse Eisenberg) leaves his New York Jewish family to make his way in Hollywood. His mother asks his high-powered agent uncle Phil (Steve Carell) for help. Phil gives him the run-around for weeks. Bobby's criminal hustler brother Ben (Corey Stoll) tells him to get a hooker. Shirley 'Candy' is a Jewish struggling actress distressed at failing as a hooker. Bobby falls for Phil's secretary Vonnie Sybil (Kristen Stewart). She tells him that she has a boyfriend who turns out to be the married with family, uncle Phil. Eventually, Phil leaves his family and marries Vonnie. Heart-broken, Bobby returns to New York to work at Ben's nightclub. Bobby marries divorcée Veronica Hayes (Blake Lively) and then Vonnie shows up at the club with uncle Phil.

I really like the first half. Anna Camp is hilarious as another Woody Allen hooker. Kristen Stewart has a light, breezy feel which is nicely appealing. She and Jesse Eisenberg have a nice chemistry. Steve Carell is well within his range. It seems to be setting up for a breezy, fun time. Then, the movie fades in the second half starting with Blake Lively. The murder story is fun but the second half holds limited interest. I'm left with an imagined, fun second half that never was. Maybe, Woody is trying to do something about regret but there are better ways to achieve that.

"Café Society" is an American movie from this year (2016) and it runs for approximately 95 minutes. It is the newest work by Oscar-winning writer and director Woody Allen and what a coincidence, it is his 81st birthday today. And he shows us with his work here that he still got it. He has been pretty great in recent years actually. I loved "Blue Jasmine" and "Irrational Man" and I liked "Magic in the Moonlight" as well as this one we have here. Very prolific for his age Allen sure is, but this does not have a negative impact on the quality at all. Allen has worked with Emma Stone and Miley Cyrus recently and with this movie we have here, he takes on another very talented rising actress: Kristen Stewart. To me, she was easily the heart and soul of this film. But first things first: This movie takes place in Hollywood in the 1930s (and partially in New York too). We find out a whole lot about life in the film industry back then, but also about other circumstances, such as the mafia or just the American dream of becoming someone that makes a difference in his career. This of course refers to Jesse Eisenberg's character for the most part.

So I already mentioned Eisenberg. He is the big lead player in this film and all the action is somehow connected to him. His co-lead is Kristen Stewart and the biggest supporting performance comes from Steve Carell. The three end up in a bit of a love triangle. Carell's character is married, but he has an affair with his assistant, Stewart's character. Eisenberg's character (the nephew of Carell's character) comes to Hollywood and falls for Stewart's character. After Carell's character initially ends the relationship with Stewart's character, Stewart also falls for Eisenberg's character, but this is far from the end of the line of course, actually only half the movie approximately. The fact that Eisenberg is the real lead here is shown by the fact that we find out about his family and also about his life back in New York when he returns and becomes successful. At that point we find out nothing about Stewart's character of Carell's character. The two are completely out of the picture at that point.

In a schmaltzy romance comedy of course you would expect rightfully that Stewart's and Eisenberg's character get together at the very end, but luckily this is a Woody Allen movie and because of that you never know what to expect and who gets together with whom at the end. In a cheesy romance movie, all the other characters other than our two heroes are depicted mostly unlikable, but not so here. Carell's character may have his loud or annoying moments, but he is clearly not an antagonist. The family even unites when talking about how to help their family member who is in jail. Also the wife of Eisenberg's character is not unlikable at all. There are no real antagonists in here. Absolutely not. The film shines, as always with Allen, that it all feels very authentic and real and that it could have definitely happened that way. But it also shows us that love is something entirely different over 80 years ago. Allen does not get lost in political references, there is just one tiny little mention of Hitler. The way Hollywood is depicted could have been worse, but it also could have been better. Little funny comments like the one from a writer who has 2 Oscars saying they won't know him despite his success because he is a writer was fairly hilarious for example.

I quite like Allen and I enjoyed this watch too. I truly hope he will keep making films for at least another 10 years if his health allows him to. I probably could have enjoyed this film even more if I had been a Jesse Eisenberg fan. I cannot deny that I don't really like him most of the time, but he is bearable here nonetheless. The big shining light is Kristen Stewart, however, and visually she was fine for the time, but not for being a Hollywood starlet, but for being the exact opposite, somebody who does not (want to) have a lot to do with Hollywood. The scene pretty late when she really turned into one of the people she made fun of early on was pretty sad to watch and I really felt the same as Eisenberg's character when he confronts her about her transformation. But yes it is true. People change when they grow up, even if eventually she feels as if she hasn't really changed that much. It was easy to cheer for Stewart's character and also for Eisenberg's character. In my opinion, with this performance, Stewart once again shows that she is among the absolute elite of her age group. Excellent stuff and it was a great role for her. On a final note, pay attention to how crime (even if mostly for comedic purposes) has been a core component in Allen's films for a long time now. They may not always circle around this subject like in "Match Point", but the mafia references in here added a whole lot to the outcome too. I very much recommend "Café Society". Absolutely worth seeing.

Woody Allen often is an interesting and insightful directors, whose films regardless of how they come off overall look great, have great soundtracks and he often knows how to get strong performances out of actors, at his best his writing was a fine mix of the hilarious, the poignantly dramatic and the thought-provoking.

'Café Society' is not one of his best films. Allen's glory days were in the late 60s through to the early 90s, with the 70s and 80s (which saw masterpieces like 'Annie Hall', 'Crimes and Misdemeanours' and 'Manhattan' for example) being particularly good decades. From mid-90s onwards he became hit and miss, with the odd gem like 'Midnight in Paris' and 'Blue Jasmine' but generally his glory days are long gone.

As far as his films from the 2010s decade go, 'Midnight in Paris' and 'Blue Jasmine' are vastly superior but 'Café Society' does fare better than 'To Rome With Love' and 'You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger'. 'Café Society' is not a great film, but is not a poor one, generally Allen has done worse (almost all of them being in the last twenty years or so) but it really isn't one of his better films.

Its best asset is the magnificent cinematography, every shot takes the breath away and complements the also spot-on and very handsomely produced 30s period detail perfectly. The soundtrack also is an ideal fit, giving a real sense of period as well as being a wonderful soundtrack on its own. There are shades of prime-Allen writing, there are some very funny moments, some touching ones and it does evoke thought afterwards, Allen's themes done in an insightful way.

The story is simple but rarely dull, it is a long way from perfect as will be detailed later on in the review but it did maintain interest. It's nicely directed by Allen. Performances vary. Blake Lively is positively luminous and Steve Carrell shows that he is adept at comedy and drama in a role that requires both extremes. Was very pleasantly surprised by Kristen Stewart, she can not do much for me but this is proof that with good material she can be good, the role could easily have been hardly one at all but Stewart does make the role more interesting than he deserved to be.

Jesse Eisenberg didn't work for me, he just plays a younger Woody Allen alter ego and it just comes off as a bad impersonation without being either funny or charming, instead it's annoying and the neuroses are overdone. Corey Stoll also feels very out of place, didn't buy him for a minute as a mobster, the role didn't suit him in the first place and it didn't fit within the period.

On top of this, the script and story execution aren't perfect. Mostly the script is very enjoyable but some jokes, especially the bad-taste and insensitive poking fun at Jews, do fall flat. Allen's narration is irritating, overused and over-explanatory, more show and less tell please Allen, consequently giving 'Café Society' an overwritten feel. The story does suffer from too much crammed in and sketchily developed characters (making the central relationships not quite as convincing as they ought to have been),and while there was no problem with a more morose at the end the ending just felt too inconclusive and gave the sense that Allen was indecisive as to how to finish the film.

In conclusion, looks beautiful and has some enjoyable things but somewhat unsatisfying. 6/10 Bethany Cox