Café Society
Lionsgate | Release Date: July 15, 2016 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
64
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 37 Critic Reviews
Positive:
22
Mixed:
14
Negative:
1
Watch Now
Stream On
Buy on

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
60
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinJul 14, 2016
It’s an unusually warm world, full of helpful wealthy people and friendly faces. That’s the conundrum. It’s too shallow to nourish the spirit of a man like Bobby. But it’s too rich to leave. Read full review
60
The New York TimesA.O. ScottJul 14, 2016
It is, overall, an amusing little picture, with some inspired moments and some sour notes, a handful of interesting performances and the hint, now and then, of an idea. Read full review
60
CineVueJohn BleasdaleMay 11, 2016
Eisenberg avoids, for the most part, doing a Woody Allen impersonation, but his bumbling guilelessness is wearing and Stewart seems out of place, unable to ever quite get over being Kristen Stewart in a Woody Allen movie. In fact, both young leads seem nervous to have been invited and often appear simply pleased to be there. Read full review
60
VarietyOwen GleibermanMay 11, 2016
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. Read full review
60
The GuardianPeter BradshawMay 11, 2016
Woody Allen’s Café Society is a sweet, sad, insubstantial jeu d’ésprit, watchable, charming and beautifully shot by Vittorio Storaro – yet always freighted by a pedantic nostalgia for the 1930s golden age in both Hollywood and New York, nostalgia which the title itself rather coercively announces. Read full review
58
The Film StageGiovanni Marchini CamiaMay 11, 2016
Café Society is a quintessential later-period Woody Allen film. That is to say, it’s utterly mediocre. Read full review
51
The VergeTasha RobinsonJul 22, 2016
Café Society is an incredibly pretty movie, and a generally unobjectionable one. But like so many Allen films, it feels like it was made primarily for his therapist, and letting the rest of the world in to see it and make their own diagnoses is an afterthought. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Kate TaylorJul 28, 2016
Gorgeously shot by cinematographer Vittorio Storaro, who takes much delight in exposing the blinding sunlight and dusky interiors of old Hollywood, the film is lightly entertaining but largely pointless. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenJul 27, 2016
Come for the sophisticated charm and intoxicating wit suggested by the term “café society.” Stay for the rote charms and recycled bons mots offered up by Woody Allen’s umpteenth movie, a decidedly lesser entry in the director’s vast catalog but, as with all Allen movies, a cut above most everything else that passes for comedy these days. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeMark FeeneyJul 21, 2016
Café Society is a romantic comedy where the romance is lackluster and the comedy an afterthought. Read full review
50
Washington PostAnn HornadayJul 21, 2016
Its arresting visual design aside, Cafe Society is upper-middle-late-period Allen, a modestly diverting ditty that will never go down as one of his greats. (But, as most can agree, Allen at his most middling is still better than many hacks at their best.) Read full review
50
New York PostKyle SmithJul 15, 2016
A scrapbook of bits from better Allen films that builds up to a hearty shrug. Read full review
42
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallJul 28, 2016
Vittorio Storaro's cinematography is superb, casting gauzy glows and sensual silhouettes against impressively designed sets. Allen drops a few philo-cynical lines worthy of his reputation but not nearly enough. Read full review
40
Time OutDave CalhounJul 14, 2016
The soundtrack offers the expected jazz, while Allen himself, now sounding mumbly, offers intermittent, awkward narration. In the pantheon of his films, it’s a pretty but minor distraction. Read full review
More From This Movie

64 Critic Reviews

6.6 User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 77 Project Hail Mary
2 75 Send Help
3 73 Hoppers
4 72 The Sheep Detectives
5 68 Crime 101
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL