Film Review: Bad Shabbos

Bad Shabbos is available on Hulu & for purchase in Apple & Prime. It is also in some independent movie theaters.

The opening scene does something with the candles that is pure magic.

You must see Bad Shabbos. Must. It's eerily familiar as we watch an anxious young man introduce his very stereotypical, over-involved, constantly-arguing, constantly-talking-over-each-other Jewish family to his devout Catholic soon-to-be in-laws at Friday Shabbos dinner. Or that's the plan.

Where have I seen this before, you ask? Oh yeah — it’s The Birdcage, with Robin Williams and Nathan Lane, hiding their very stereotypical gay lives in Miami Beach from the evangelistic conservative soon-to-be in-laws from Washington, D.C. Only this time, we’re hiding the body of the daughter‘s boyfriend, who nobody liked anyway, inadvertently killed by the overprotected youngest Jewish mama’s boy rather than The Birdcage's plot that the mother is really a man. But it's still fresh and new, and besides, we New Yorkers haven't seen this much of the West Side since You've Got Mail. And, we've missed it.

Crisp, fast dialogue. Extremely funny dialogue. Unexpected twists and turns. Amazing acting. And it’s the physical, hard kind of acting that, when combined with nuanced, smart back-and-forth sparring dialogue, can make the time watching fly. And you will laugh. Deep laughter that comes from deep inside. It’s the backdrop for pretty much the entire hour and a half.

For those WASPs from New York City who have attended many a Shabbos dinner with a distance that makes anxiety part of the menu, it's hard work just trying to be sure that the fight of the minute doesn’t end up out of control. So for many of us, it is reminiscent of good times with friends' families.

You see, the thing about stereotypical Jewish families, stereotypes that have some real foundation, is that fights don’t end things. Kyra Sedgwick, who plays the overbearing mother, tells a wonderful story to her soon-to-be daughter-in-law, who is converting and desperately wanting extra credit for doing it. Kyra explains to her that she’s glad she is converting but struggles because she considers her Judaism a plant that’s been handed down through 100 generations of Jewish mothers. The thought of handing it to someone who only took a quick course in gardening is beyond her comprehension. Those hundred generations who survived, when survival wasn’t guaranteed, have cemented a foundation for Jews that means no matter how mad you get at someone in the family, you move beyond it, and you do it quickly. Grudges don’t last longer than seconds. There’s no time. There’s a new argument waiting as soon as you finish the peas on your plate. And the idea that you walk away from family members is unthinkable.

It’s wonderful. And if you don’t have a huge history with Shabbos dinners, you’re going to want to go to one after this.

We raised my daughter in the Jewish faith, and I always said with great pride that I was Jewish by injection. If I could have picked any religion, it would’ve been Judaism. It’s not just the permanence of a club you’re not allowed to resign from. It’s the comfort of knowing that foundation is always there to fall back on, which is really what this film is about.

It’s about knowing how to be part of a tight-knit group that’s in it to win it together.

I do have two small criticisms for this newly minted director and screenwriter, who are going to go on to even greater things for sure.

First, the tempo is just a little bit too quick. You’re constantly trying to keep up with it, and if it were slowed down just a fraction—maybe a second or two between exchanges, or maybe just three people talking over each other instead of six—it would’ve been perfection. Robin Williams-level perfection. Watch Robin and Nathan in action and you will see what I mean.

Second, the title. Bad Shabbos.

I recently gave a talk after The Silence of the Lambs played at the Lincoln Theater in Maine, and I spoke about how Jonathan Demme and screenwriter Ted Tally debated the script. Demme wanted to take out some of the dialogue. He trusted their audience to figure things out, to see the nuance between Clarice Starling and Jack Crawford without being spoon-fed. It was debated. Heatedly. Demme won, and the film is all the better for it. I feel the same way about the title here. It shouldn’t be called Bad Shabbos. It should be called Good Shabbos, which is what everyone says over and over again, and which beautifully captures the spirit of welcoming in Friday evening, contemplating the week gone by, and anticipating the week to come. We would’ve figured the double entendre out. You didn’t need to tell us.

Other than that?

I see awards in your future. In fact, the film already won a number of them including Maybe not this time. Not enough people will see it, but they should see it. Especially now. Our country needs to laugh a lot. Our country needs to remember that family is everything, and that the smaller the community around you, the bigger your life.

Don’t miss the opportunity to see this. Tell your friends. Laugh with your family.