Café Society

"Even though he re-establishes himself every few years with a triumph like Blue Jasmine, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, or Midnight in Paris, Woody Allen remains a cultural pariah. There is a sharp delineation between people who might enjoy his films and people who probably won't. Even among the former group, which I consider myself a part of, this latest work is something of a crap shoot."

"The movie, watchable as it is, never quite overcomes the sense that it's a lavish diagram working hard to come off as a real movie."

"A pretty, rambling, minor distraction."

"Mr. Allen's literal voice, which supplies narration, sounds unusually sluggish and weary. The same is true of his voice as a writer and director. For every snappy scene or exchange there are three or four that feel baggy and half-written."

"Woody Allen has made 46 films, of which I've seen 46, and I'm not sure which of us is more tired of them."

"In the best sense, "Cafe Society" presents itself as an older director's film, dealing as it does with the difference between dreams and reality and the presence and persistence of regret."

"A small fiction of amiable appeal and vibrancy which goes down as easily as a fizzy cocktail."

"...predictable and intermittently maudlin..."

"Notable for a superb Kristen Stewart performance, this entertaining lament to old Hollywood and lost love sits between major and minor Woody."