Sunday, September 25, 2016

2016 - CAFE SOCIETY, a very weak Woody Allen film

Woody Allen seems enamored with the Hollywood social life of the 1930's because his screenplay sure names drops a lot of old Hollywood stars which probably means nothing to a modern audience.


This is another one of those Woody Allen movies about star crossed lovers which ultimately ends with one of his typically melancholy endings.  The premise of the film is that Jesse Eisenberg travels to Hollywood, California to work with his uncle played by Steve Carell.  Eisenberg falls in love with Kristen Stewart but doesn't know that Stewart is having an affair with his uncle.  Eisenberg eventually ends up marrying Blake Lively who isn't exactly chopped liver.

All the typical Woody Allen cliches are here.  The black and white credits, the jazz music, the weird way all of his characters talk mouthing his stylized dialog etc.  The conceit in this film is that Kristen Stewart is a woman who is so attractive that she has two men who are head over heels over her.  Really the film needed a young Diane Keaton to carry that one off.

As usual with a Woody Allen film the production is top quality and the cinematography by Vittorio Storato is very good if maybe a little to heavy on the golden California sunshine look.

96 minutes, written by Woody Allen (who else).

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