Daniel Robbins' entertaining and fast-paced comedy about a Sabbath dinner party gone terribly wrong won the Tribeca Film Festival's top audience award.
Set in the affluent Jewish community on New York's Upper West Side, "Bad Shabbos," winner of the Tribeca Film Festival's audience award, is an entertaining and fast-paced comedy about a Sabbath dinner party gone terribly wrong. After four independent features, director Daniel Robbins should get wider distribution with this tender look at several generations of modern Jews trying to balance the polarities of secular and religious life, along with the dilemma of a corpse in the bathroom. Robbins and his longtime co-writer, Zack Weiner, up the comic ante by incorporating several dysfunctional family dramas, an interfaith culture clash, and a fearless janitor. A solid ensemble cast masters the juicy dialogue and increasingly frenetic action without becoming monotonous.
Director: Daniel Robbins
Writers: Daniel Robbins, Zack Weiner
Stars: Milana Vayntrub, Kyra Sedgwick, Ashley Zukerman
David (Jon Bass) and his fiancée Meg (Meghan Leathers), a shiksa already in the midst of a conversion, are headed to another Friday Sabbath dinner at the home of her parents, Richard (David Paymer) and Ellen (Kyra Sedgwick). But this evening is different from all the others because Meg's Catholic parents from Wisconsin, John (John Bedford Lloyd) and Beth (Catherine Curtin), are planning a first-ever meeting with her family. "Do they get along with Shabbat?" David asks anxiously. "Do they know to wait for a few prayers and put away their phones," Meg retorts.
David's justifiable anxiety isn't limited to what his future in-laws will think of his loud, argumentative parents and Sabbath customs, but also encompasses the fear of additional complications from the other guests. Her misfit younger brother, Adam (Theo Taplitz), who is at least a Klonopin away from serenity, doesn't get along with Benjamin (Ashley Zukerman), his sister Abby's (Milana Vayntrub) womanizing boyfriend. Whenever they're around, the older man's not-so-innocent comments drive Adam crazy. Meanwhile, Meg still has to deal with the hostility of the controlling Ellen, who believes one conversation isn't enough and doesn't hesitate to let her know.
With the Wisconsinites arriving late, the situation at Richard and Ellen's beautifully furnished apartment quickly escalates when one of the guests suffers a fatal bathroom accident. As the Gelfand clan panics and wonders what to do next, brave doorman Jordan (a charming portrayal of Cliff "Method Man" Smith of the Wu-Tang Clan) comes to the rescue with a plan. But the honored guests from the Midwest arrive just at the most inopportune moment.
Robbins proves adept at directing physical comedy as tension and bad behavior mount at the table. Once again, Jordan comes to the rescue, albeit in disguise. "Have you heard of Ethiopian Jews?" he asks John and Beth. As Meg demonstrates not only composure during a crisis but also a skilled interpreter of the Torah, she begins to win Ellen over, but there are more twists to come.
Set in its Upper West Side location, with a glimpse into Zabar's and a stop at Barney Greengrass, the sturgeon king, the film benefits from Robbins and Weiner's knowledge and affection for its surroundings. A minimalist, yet aptly utilized, jazzy soundtrack by Eli Keszler and on-screen titles indicating when the next doorman (a stern Alok Tewari) will be on duty increase the comic tension.
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