• Café Society

1/5/24 (Fri)

Woody Allen’s 2016 work is pretty standard fare for him. The young Woody type, here named Leonard, moves from NY to Hollywood seeking a job with his uncle, a powerful film producer. He falls in love with a down-to-earth girl, but her problem – she has a boyfriend. Bigger problem – her boyfriend turns out to be the uncle. After some back and forth, she goes for the money. The disillusioned Leonard goes back to NY and works at his gangster brother’s nightclub. He becomes a terrific schmoozer and meets another beautiful woman, who he marries. Then his ex turns up at the club with the uncle, now her husband. She has taken on the airs of a Hollywood insider, not at all the simple girl she was before. Nevertheless, Leonard can’t stop thinking about what might have been…

The movie has some interesting touches, like the fairly sympathetic portrait of the producer, a character that Woody would normally eviscerate. But it all feels like something I’ve seen before. There’s a dumb interlude when Leonard, having called a prostitute to his room, is so condescending to her that it’s irritating. Allen’s talent for dialogue fails him here. Elsewhere, it’s the usual Woodyish intellectual talk without the accompanying sparkle. A few gags sneak in (“Live every day like its your last, and someday you’ll be right” “Life is a comedy written by a sadistic comedy writer” “Unrequited love kills more people in a year than tuberculosis” “You’ll die under protest? What the hell are you gonna do, write a letter to the Times?”), but by and large the script is lazy.

Still, the performances are great, led by Jessie Eisenberg, who plays the Woody stand-in but still manages to get his own take on it. The film also looks terrific, much more vivid and colorful than his usual fare, and the music is as usual fantastic. Woody, who narrates the film, sounds tired and old; I wouldn’t have recognized him if not for the accent. And that kind of goes for the film. It’s enjoyable for what it is, and maybe someone unfamiliar with his work would like it more. I would describe it as pleasant.