Cafe Society Reviews

A seedy noir drama set in 1952 New York and based on a real-life scandal involving the dissolute heir to a margarine fortune, hypocritical politicians and a colorful cast of grifters, party girls and hangers-on. Aimless, 23-year-old playboy Mickey Jelke (Frank Whaley) takes up with hard-eyed beauty Pat Ward (Lara Flynn Boyle), whose secret, impoverished past is a far cry from the patrician manners she affects. Undercover cop Jack Kale (Peter Gallagher), hell-bent on exposing the nest of vice that lies beneath the glittering surface of café society, uses the pair as his entree to the modern demimonde of high-priced prostitutes, pinup photographers, slick pimps, debutantes on the make, hungry-eyed showbiz fringe-dwellers, opportunistic columnists and trust-fund lowlifes. Writer-director Raymond De Felitta shows a surprisingly sure hand in his feature debut, a homegrown SCANDAL seasoned with a dash of SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS. With its solid story, downbeat ending and pervasive air of sophisticated degeneracy, this boozy amorality tale is a bracing alternative to the flashy, dramatically unsatisfying summer blockbusters currently cluttering up theater screens.