Daniel Robbins’s awkward farce fails to land laughs or meaning
By James Verniere/Boston Movie News
A weak entry from the usually reliable Menemsha Films “Bad Shabbos,” the winner of several audience awards on the festival circuit (Was it mass hysteria?), takes a simple premise regarding a Jewish family and one of the sons marrying a Christian woman, something that might make a good comedy (“When Harry Met Sally,” anyone) and makes a mess of it. If, like me, you are not keen on plots in which laxatives play a significant role, beware. “Bad Shabbos” is coming for you.
It begins with two elderly gentlemen walking in Manhattan’s Upper West Side. The big man is Saul (Josh Mostel). The other is Irv (Stephen Singer). In the act of telling a joke, Saul is interrupted by a body from a bone-breaking height falling at their feet. It’s jokus interruptus (and it’s on us). Upstairs (or several elevator levels above), a Jewish family has gathered for Sabbath dinner. The matriarch, Ellen (Kyra Sedgwick), is rather high-strung yet handles all the cooking until her soon-to-be daughter-in-law, Meg (Meghan Leathers), insists on cutting a melon. Megan is engaged to Ellen’s older son, David (Jon Bass). Ellen’s husband, Richard (David Paymer, who is too old for Sedgwick), is a goofball who uses manual typewriters, and he is wearily hooked on a book about interpreting people’s behavior to which he refers repeatedly. Ellen and Richard’s daughter, Abby (Milana Vayntrub), shows up with her Jewish boyfriend, Benjamin (Ashley Zukerman), who has some issues with Abby’s younger brother, Adam (an overwrought Theo Taplitz). David tries to defuse any confrontation by talking to Adam in his room before the dinner in the family’s spacious duplex-with-a-large-balcony-with-a-view, while the jumpy and sweaty Adam does semi-push-ups. Zabar’s, anyone?
Directed and co-written by Daniel Robbins, whose previous credits are unfamiliar to me, “Bad Shabbos” leans heavily on cringe humor and extremely awkward situations, specifically a dead body that must be dealt with since Meg’s devout Catholic parents from Milwaukee are supposed to arrive at any moment to meet the “other” parents. My feeling is that “Bad Shabbos” might have been a lot better without the dead body (and without a lot of the dialogue). Upon arrival, Benjamin starts pumping David for insider trading information, signaling that he is a bad guy. Am I the only one who thinks it’s weird for Adam to excuse himself, announcing that he’s going to take some Klonopin?
Meg, who plans to convert, tells Ellen about her Jewish studies. Ellen is unconvinced and tells Meg the story of a “houseplant” that has been handed down through generations. What’s with this houseplant shtick?
The doorman, Jordan (Cliff “Method Man” Smith), a family friend, becomes involved in the plot to dispose of the body. It would have been better and simpler if the dead person turned out to be not dead after all. But, no, dead it is. Did you know the Talmud says it is forbidden to carry a dead body on Shabbos? That might be the best joke in the film. Jokes about Adam, the failure-to-launch sibling, joining the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) are ill-timed, to say the least. Wine is spilled; food is thrown at someone and dropped on the floor. Richard refers to notes from his “conflict resolution seminars.” Am I alone in finding none of this funny? (Maybe, but I don’t care.) At 84 minutes, it was endless. Outside of Taplitz, whose overacting grates, the cast is fine and, with better material, could have been even better. The film’s convenient conclusion is not even credible. But then, who cares?
‘Bad Shabbos’
Rating: Not rated
Cast: Kyra Sedgwick, David Paymer, Milana Vayntrub
Director: Daniel Robbins
Writers: Robbins, Zack Weiner
Running time: 84 minutes
Where to Watch: Coolidge Corner Theater
Grade: C+
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