Cafe Society
Directed and Written by Woody Allen
Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Steve Carell, Blake Shelton
It is the 1930s yet again and Bobby Dorfman (Jesse Eisenberg) travels from New York to Hollywood to make his fortune under the tutelage of his uncle, a Hollywood agent (Steve Carell). Not knowing what to do with his young nephew, Carell puts him the tutelage of his assistant, Vonnie (Stewart). Of course, Bobby falls in love with her, but she is having an affair with someone else and puts him off.
A third tier film in the Allen oeuvre and not even a European setting to save it. Eisenberg is one of the most boring of the legion of Woody Allen stand-ins. Carell turns his back on some recent fine acting to play the dull uncle. Only Stewart shines in a film you will swear you saw last year. And the year before. Some rather violent scenes bring the torpor to a dissatisfying halt every so often. An attempt to darken things up that fell flat. As did the rest of it.
Patti Abbott
