By: debbie lynn elias
Many of you may have heard of and/or experienced the phenomena called JEWTOPIA. What began as a small stage production in Los Angeles ten years ago morphed into a smash Broadway hit and spawned an hilarious coffee table book. Now, eight years after first pondering a film version, Bryan Fogel and Sam Wolfson, co-creators of JEWTOPIA, adapt the stage production for the big screen with Fogel making his directorial debut to beyond hilarious results.
Christian O’Connell wants a woman; a woman who will make every decision for him for the rest of his life. Despondent after a college break-up nine years earlier, he has still hasn’t been able to “get back on the horse”. But then Fate, or God, smiles on him and leads this nice Gentile boy to the local synagogue for a singles mixer. Worse than a fish-out-of-water, Christian meets the beautiful Alison. The poster child for “love at first sight” as he fawns over Alison, Christian faces a bigger problem. He’s not Jewish and Alison is the daughter of the synagogue’s rabbi and his socially prominent wife. Oy! What’s a boy to do! To start with, lie and tell the girl his name is Avi Rosenberg and that he’s a doctor – the dream combination for the stereotypical Jewish mother. And in Christian’s case, call on his childhood best friend, Adam Lipschitz, for a crash course in “how to act Jewish.” Mind you, thanks to Christian’s military father and countless moves from city to city over his lifetime, Christian and Adam have been out of touch for years, but given the loyalty that Christian exhibited for Adam following a rather embarrassing incident in their youth, it’s time to call in his marker of friendship.
With rapid-fire hilarity, Adam subjects Christian to an intensive course of “Jew-dification” and hand holding as Christian aka Dr. Rosenberg tries to win the heart and hand of Alison. In the meantime, Adam has problems of his own as he prepares for his own wedding to Hannah Daniels, female ob-gyn and local shrew with enough self-righteous “It’s all about me” attitude to raise the Titanic. Compounding Adam’s problems are his parents, the king and queen of the family business, Embroidery Palace.
The JEWTOPIA cast is an embarrassment of comedic riches. In a surprise casting, Ivan Sergei, probably best known for his work on Crossing Jordan and Charmed, easily slides into the role of Christian (which was originally played by w/d Fogel in the stage production). With boyish charm, extreme good looks and a naivete that bodes inherent humor, Sergei is perfect and reinforces the idea of him as a leading man. But playing hand-in-hand with that perfection is Joel David Moore. As best friend Adam, Moore is the epitome of hapless, yet methodical, frustration and I must say, has one of the funniest mental breakdowns ever seen on screen.
But the real magic happens with the “supporting” family members, starting with Rita Wilson and Jon Lovitz as Adam’s parents, Dennis and Arlene Lipschitz. Rita Wilson has never been better! Hysterical, over-the-top, she milks the role with everything she’s got and as soon as she finishes one scene, she starts all over again. Wilson is divine. As Dennis, Lovitz is actually a bit sedate, toning down the expected Jewish stereotypes so often scene on screen, and allowing Wilson’s Arlene to wear the attitude pants in the family. Yet Lovitz is the glue of the Lipschitz family and he imbues the film with the concept of “family”.
Peter Stormare relishes every movement, every utterance, as the gun-toting, game hunting soldier Buck O’Connell. An over-the-top delight! And then there’s Tom Arnold sidling into the role of ob/gyn Dr. Bruce Daniels with the ease and command of a woman slipping her legs into the stirrups at the doctor’s office. Nicollette Sheridan is easy breezy as dutiful housewife Betsy O’Connell while Camryn Manheim goes toe-to-toe with Arnold as wife and fellow ob/gyn, Eileen Daniels. Joining in the parental fracas is Wendie Malick as Alison’s mother/Rabbi’s wife, Marcy Marx. As comes as no surprise, Malick commands the scene whenever she appears on screen.
Jennifer Love Hewitt is the epitome of flawless beauty with her take on Alison while Jamie Lynn-Sigler steals the thunder as Adam’s fiancé, Hannah.
Over-the-top is an understatement when it comes to describing the comedy. Fogel and Wolfson push everything to the limit and go to extremes playing with a multiplicity of cultural, ethnic and religious stereotypes, all to great irreverent comedic effect. Sexual humor, anatomical humor, ethnic humor, family dynamics – nothing is off limits. Quite honestly, I laughed so hard that I had to watch the film a second time just to hear all the jokes I missed while laughing! However, be warned that the humor is not for everyone and, although I personally don’t find it so, some may find it to be “insensitive” or “disrespectful”.
Interesting is that while JEWTOPIA the movie is an adaptation of the play, all that essentially remains of the play is the core idea and the characters, with situations being expanded and invented based on the expansiveness that film provides over a single stage. Celebrating the freedom of film, Fogel lensed in multiple locations to great visual effect. The translation to big screen is seamless and is just as funny, if not moreso, than the stage production.
As a director, Fogel has a good eye and even better sense of pacing. He keeps the story and the action in constant motion be it visually or with dialogue, never allowing the audience or the film to lose its comedic momentum, or its heart. Together with his cinematographer, Sandra Valde-Hansen, the two lens the film light and bright, as if celebrating life and laughter. Ever cognizant of framing and capturing full frame and scene while judiciously utilizing zooms and close-ups, important is the visual inclusion of many elements of the production design which add texture and religious context to the story and the inherent humor.
Predictable? Yes. Entertaining? Yes. Funny? Oh my God, yes! One of the funniest films of the year!
Directed by Bryan Fogel
Written by Bryan Fogel and Sam Wolfson
Cast: Ivan Sergei, Joel David Moore, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Jon Lovitz, Rita Wilson, Peter Stormare, Nicollette Sheridan, Jamie Lynn-Sigler, Wendie Malick, Tom Arnold, Camryn Manheim
