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Café Society (2016), PG-13, ★★★

Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart reunited.
Ah, yes, Hollywood. 1930's Hollywood. The Golden Age of Cinema. There would be so much glamour and gossip going on that is highlighted by everyone from their decorum. It would have been the same today except there's so much social media attention and not as much privacy. It felt like a busy-going but restrained Hollywood. Woody Allen has been making films for quite a long time and even though his latest project is familiar with his themes and narrative structure, the movie is filled with luminous art direction and witty performances that is hard to resist, especially in a golden era of cinema.

In the 1930's, Bobby Doorman (Jesse Eisenberg) wants to make his move to Hollywood. He has a family including two other siblings named Evelyn (Sari Lennick) who is a schoolteacher and Ben (Corey Stoll), who is a gangster notoriously known for murdering numerous people who has done dirty business. Bobby tries to get an appointment with his Uncle Phil (Steve Carell), who is one of the most successful agents in the business. He is told to wait for hours until he gets notice his uncle is busy and then later in the week, he took his wife to Mexico.

Bobby finally gets an interview with Phil and has his secretary, Vonnie (Kristen Stewart), take Bobby around town to show the area. Bobby is sort of infatuated with Vonnie's personality and when he asks her, she politely declines and says that she is seeing somebody named Doug. Well, it turns out Doug is Phil who is having an affair with Vonnie behind his wife's back. Phil does not want to commit to the affair anymore so Vonnie goes to Bobby's apartment for comfort and start a relationship.

Hello, this is not Michael Scott.
This is a film drenched with luscious cinematography that does not denigrate the 1930s lifestyle. It feels like you, an audience member or viewer, are a participant of their lifestyle and the outlook of life itself. But, also, this is another heartbreaking film from Woody Allen that is a depiction of a dream about love. We have one person's idea of love, one wrong portrait of love and a brief wedded portrait of love from two couples towards the end of the film. What is the right definition of love? It is the question surrounding Eisenberg's character's persona as he is chasing Stewart's character for most of the movie. Why is he so fascinated?

All of the performances are quite good. I thought Eisenberg gives one of his best performances as he plays a charismatic young person who is chasing both his career and love. There were a few scenes that I felt like I was watching a very young and neurotic Woody Allen saying the script. Again, he and Kristen Stewart have good chemistry as they did in both the underrated Adventureland and weird American Ultra. It is the core of the movie. Steve Carell is well cast as the uncle. Blake Lively is quite lovely late in the movie. Parker Posey is great and Corey Stoll is solid as the gangster brother...from another movie.

And, that's what leads me to the ultimate weakness of the movie and it is the subplot surrounding the personal aspect of family distress as Stoll's character gets into trouble with the law...again. I felt like that subplot belonged in another movie and felt like a random story to advance the movie's plot and then let it unfold quite conventionally. Even though the movie is not at the height of Woody Allen's best work, it is a good one for his filmography because his last two films, Irrational Man and Magic in the Moonlight, were not fun. I felt Allen's writing created a lot of humor, nostalgia and hidden romance in this movie that got me more involved with the main story. It is a likable, pleasant and beautifully filmed movie no more, no less. The result is not a milestone but it is sumptuous.

***


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