past the moment of their introduction. There's a major disconnect between action and emotion in Café Society: Bobby can't have the woman he loves, and doesn't make much effort to win her. That's a strange way to approach a love story. A Great Gatsby prologue, angst and all But Allen's characters are often more internal and philosophical than action-oriented, and Bobby is no exception. He sulks passively about Vonnie while Allen fills the film with side business: squabbles between Bobby's working-class New York parents, Rose (Jeannie Berlin) and Marty (Ken Stott); a series of murders by his unrepentant gangster brother Ben (Corey Stoll); Phil's monologues about the movie business. There's a tremendously repetitive, unfunny, and narratively pointless scene between Bobby and a prostitute calling herself Candy (Anna Camp);he hires her to come to his LA hotel room, but instantly loses interest when he finds out she's Jewish, a first-timer, and prone to weeping. And yet she keeps begging him for sex, because she promised herself she'd follow through. The film is filled with odd reminders that many of the characters on-screen are Jewish, with Rose telling Marty he "looks stupid" because he doesn't have "a traditional Jewish head," or a beautiful new acquaintance telling Bobby she finds Jews "exotic and mysterious." But those references don't rise to the level of comedy or commentary. Like the movie star name-dropping, they're pro forma, just a case of Allen poking listlessly at his favorite topics without really engaging.

At least Café Society looks marvelous. Allen's modern films are invariably