Cafe Society

Woody Allen doesn’t venture too far outside his comfort zone in Café Society, crafting a well-acted romantic trifle with some familiar characters and settings.

It’s essentially an introspective love triangle with some amusing touches that allow Allen’s sardonic wit to shine through the narrative pitfalls.

The film follows Bobby (Jesse Eisenberg), who hopes to land a job in Hollywood after arriving from his family’s home in the Bronx. After some prodding, he lands an entry-level position at the fledgling talent agency run by his uncle Phil (Steve Carell), a confident schmoozer with a troubled personal life behind the scenes.

As Bobby hobnobs with the rich and famous, he begins a romance with Phil’s secretary, Veronica (Kristen Stewart), only to learn that she’s harboring a secret that might tear them apart. So Bobby flees back to New York, where he gets married to another Veronica (Blake Lively) and begins running a nightclub with his ruthless gangster brother (Corey Stoll).

While he finds fame and fortune, however, doubts linger in Bobby’s heart about whether he made the right choice to abandon his first love.

Allen fashions an affectionate period re-creation of Hollywood and his beloved New York, offering a heartfelt glimpse into a bygone era — a nostalgic age of showbiz backstabbing and name-dropping accentuated by the lush amber hues in the production design by longtime Allen collaborator Santo Loquasto.

Combine the atmosphere with some evocative camera movements and Allen’s usual jazzy piano score, and the visual backdrop helps to compensate for some of the muddled drama in the script (that he’s still exploring fantasies between desperate older men and glamorous younger women elicits a bit of an eye roll).

Still, the venerable filmmaker manages some scattered big laughs along the way, and generates fine performances amid his intriguing batch of characters, especially from Stewart and Lively as the two women in Bobby’s life.

A coming-of-age story at its core, Café Society includes some clumsy attempts to be self-reflexive and profound — “Life is a comedy written by a sadistic comedy writer,” Bobby bemoans at one point — and the film too often values cheap platitudes over genuine emotion.

However, its playful send-up of stuffy aristocracy and high society shows the bittersweet film can be fun when you don’t take it too seriously.

Rated PG-13, 96 minutes.