In Woody Allen's literate and laugh-out-loud funny Cafe Society, Bobby Dorfman (Jesse Eisenberg) is a young go-getter seeking to learn the sweet science of the care and feeding of Hollywood egos from his cynical, world-weary talent-agent uncle (Steve Carell). Bobby falls in love with a young starlet (Kristen Stewart) while becoming mightily disillusioned with the picture business.
Set in the 30s, first decade of the Sound Era, when ruthless men with names like Thalberg, Meyer and Coen called the shots, Cafe Society benefits from Allen's life-long aversion to life on the Left Coast. Hard-core fans may find the show-biz gags a little shopworn this time around, but they're unlike earlier drafts such as 2003's Hollywood Ending, in which Woody's reluctant director went blind to escape the cruel fate of directing brain-dead schlock. This time, the wannabe writer bears Eisenberg's fresh face and sex appeal, far from the tired tradition of Woody's witty if hapless schlemiel scoring with dames way above his weight class, young enough to be his granddaughters.
Cafe Society continues another Allen tradition, kickstarted in 1989 with the superior Crimes and Misdemeanors, back when Woody had no need of sexy young stand-ins. Once again Allen mixes neurotic one-liners and overbearing Jewish mothers with a dose of realistic violence, completely alien to Allen's younger editions.
Unlike in the mostly inert Celebrity, in which the talented Kenneth Branagh found his pitch-perfect Woody imitation upstaged by a brash young Leo DiCaprio, in Cafe Society Allen, approaching 80, gives his new surrogate Eisenberg, an actor/playwright 43 years younger and a strong contender for the Allen throne, free rein to impose his personal style and comic chops on the role. It doesn't hurt that this is also Eisenberg's third screen pairing with Stewart, their comfortable chemistry picking up neatly from their 2009 outing in Greg Mottola's amusement-park comic romp Adventureland.
While it may not interest you to wonder if and when Jesse officially inherits the Allen baton, Cafe Society is funny enough to push the matter out of mind for this summer treat until final credits roll. It offers a sweet look at a young master-in-training and a couple of classic Woody jokes tossed in to seal the deal.
"Socrates said the unexamined life is not worth living, but the examined life is no bargain either." And: "Life is a comedy written by a sadistic comedy writer." A blissful moment in this summer of Trump.