– By Cate Marquis –
Woody Allen’s ‘Cafe Society’ is bittersweet romantic comedy set in Hollywood fantasy
Dictionaries define “cafe society” as the world of socialites who regularly frequent fashionable cafes, nightclubs, resorts, and other fashionable spots. The term originated between 1935-1940, according to the Random House Dictionary, which puts it at the end of the Great Depression and the eve of World War II.
Neither of those two events are acknowledged in Woody Allen’s 1930s-set bittersweet romantic comedy “Cafe Society.” With a new Woody Allen film, one hopes for something like “Blue Jasmine” but often gets one of the writer/director’s lesser efforts. “Cafe Society” is a middling effort, offering some enjoyment, a film nowhere near his worse but nowhere near his best either.
Like many of Allen’s recent films, this story supposedly set in the 1930s Great Depression takes place in a fantasy world where no one works and no one experiences real hardships (the few that do in this film are mere plot devices rather than people).
READ FULL REVIEW AT JEWISH LIGHT:
http://www.stljewishlight.com/features/article_31154614-540f-11e6-b4ea-9f63dff93ef3.html
