Cafe Society

[CBStew]

Woody Allen is not everyone's "cup of tea".   But if you enjoy his movies I think that you will agree that this is his best in a long time.  Jesse Eisenberg plays a night club manager whose character might just as well have been named Woody Allen.  The character has all of Woody Allen's mannerisms and schtick.   And that includes Woody's misplaced belief that he is irresistible to attractive women.  Eisenberg plays a 1930's nightclub manager.  I would tell you about the plot, but there really isn't a plot, and the movie abruptly ends with nothing being resolved, but there wasn't anything to resolve.  The movie is just a vehicle to present very clever dialogue. As a fan of Woody Allen, I didn't care.  I don't know how old Eisenberg is, he was too young to play this character.  Nonetheless, I found it a quite enjoyable movie, especially the parts showing the main character's family, one of whom is a gangster who is frequently shown burying his victims in cement.  Another is his mother, who delivers some of her funniest lines in Yiddish.  (I translated for my assimilated wife.)  Then there is his sister, who knows that one of her brothers is a gangster, but feels that if she doesn't acknowledge that fact out loud then it isn't true.  Her husband is a self declared philosopher, a guy you obviously knew and tried to avoid when you were in school.   All in all, I had a wonderful day at the movies.