Bobby Dorfman is ready for a change. He’s a native New Yorker in the 1930’s and he’s ready to make his mark on the world. So, he decides to move to Hollywood in the hopes of making it big with his uncle, a studio executive. But what he doesn’t realize is that ultimately, his story ends up being about love, not fame…

Story: This is Woody Allen. If you know his stories, you can guess how this graduates. It has its quintessential Jewish element, but, isn’t a very big story… It doesn’t have a lot of dimensions. Stories tend to move quickly these days – this does not. That’s not all bad, but, when you combine that with the ending, it just seems incomplete. It’s as if he starts telling this story and just stops three-fourths of the way in. I didn’t feel like I got a proper ending.

Performances: Bobby Dorfman is played by Jessie Eisenberg. Nothing to speak of. His uncle is played by Steve Carell. Not his best performance. Their mutual love interest is Kristen Stewart. Again nothing to speak of. And Bobby’s eventual wife is played by Blake Lively. Midland.

The only characters that seem remotely interesting are Bobby’s gangster brother played by Corey Stoll and the New York couple he meets in LA, Steve and Rad played by Parker Posey and Paul Schneider. The potential for those performances to stand out are there, but, their characters get glossed over whenever they’re in a scene.

Visual: The look and feel of 1930’s New York and Hollywood is spot on. Woody Allen never disappoints when it comes to the look of his films. The cars, the costumes, even the dialogue match the time. And that is really my litmus test; I can usually find a phrase or two in period pieces of today that doesn’t belong in the time. Not here…

Rating: B. It isn’t a bad movie, it just doesn’t have a proper ending. All movies don’t have to be overblown and grossly dramatic so, being a modest story is valid. But, it does need to be a fully realized story.

And as all you other Woody fans out there know, you win some, you lose some with Mr. Allen…