Hamlet Neighborhood Group
Movie Matinee Mob:
“Cafe Society” is a period romance from the ever-prolific Woody Allen, and let’s quickly get the comparisons out of the way. The film doesn’t rank with “Midnight in Paris,” “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” or a couple other late-career Allen highlights. But it is an enjoyable serio-bauble with, at closure time, some affecting things to say.
The movie contains numerous familiar Allenisms — jazzy music, neurotic New Yorkers, a romantically klutzy protagonist — along with an older filmmaker’s nostalgia and gorgeous production work. The story transpires in two 1930s golden-age settings: glamorous Hollywood and jazz-age New York.