AmosL
08-23-2006, 04:03 PM
"WHEN DO WE EAT?'
A ROLLICKING COMEDY
Amos Lassen and Cinema Pride
For those of you who do not know what a "seder" is, it is the meal that commemorates the Jews leaving Egypt and wandering in the desert for forty years. Each year at Passover, we sit down to remember those times. It is usually a family tradition and like all family traditions it. moreover than not............well you all can imagine the rest.
Salvador Litvak has filmed a "seder" meal which goes awry in every possible way. The Stuckman family is like few others. Ira, the father, (Michael Lerner) prides himself on being able to conduct the fastest seder--the meal usually takes from 3 to 5 hours, hence the title of the movie "When Do We Eat?" At this "seder" his son, Zeke, played by Ben Freidman manages to slip him a dose of Ecstacy at the onset of the seder so that his dad can experience the Passover feast in a new light. Peg, the mom, (Lesley Ann Warren) has invited a special guest, Rafi, an ex-Israeli soldier, for this year's observance---Jewish law dictates that there must be one guest at the table--and the family takes sides. And what a family!!!!!!
One of the daughters, Jennifer, is an out lesbian who brings her black lover. Another daughter, Nikki, is a prostitute masquerading as a "sex worker", a son, Ethan, has found God and returned to his Jewish roots but slips and "schtups" his first cousin, Vanessa, a Hollywood publicist. And there is a son, Lionel, who has been masquerading as autistic and a grandfather who won't let go of the past. When this group sits down together, fireworks fly and here is a meal none of them will ever forget.
I don't think any of us have ever had to endure the dynamics of a family such as this and are we lucky in that aspect. During the course of the "seder", truth is exposed and the family ends up as one big happy group of people. When they finally see the insides of each other, walls are torn down and true familial feelings emerge. Even though you laugh through the entire movie, you are likely to shed tears during the last few moments.
The DVD is loaded with extras including deleted scenes, a commentary, a casting couch featurette, a behind the scenes featurette which is even funnier than the movie, another short on a mystical seder and a quickie on the visual inspiration. This is a movie that you can watch over and over and laugh every time as well as thank yourself for having a somewhat "normal" family. I loved this movie even with all of the Jewish stchick.
A ROLLICKING COMEDY
Amos Lassen and Cinema Pride
For those of you who do not know what a "seder" is, it is the meal that commemorates the Jews leaving Egypt and wandering in the desert for forty years. Each year at Passover, we sit down to remember those times. It is usually a family tradition and like all family traditions it. moreover than not............well you all can imagine the rest.
Salvador Litvak has filmed a "seder" meal which goes awry in every possible way. The Stuckman family is like few others. Ira, the father, (Michael Lerner) prides himself on being able to conduct the fastest seder--the meal usually takes from 3 to 5 hours, hence the title of the movie "When Do We Eat?" At this "seder" his son, Zeke, played by Ben Freidman manages to slip him a dose of Ecstacy at the onset of the seder so that his dad can experience the Passover feast in a new light. Peg, the mom, (Lesley Ann Warren) has invited a special guest, Rafi, an ex-Israeli soldier, for this year's observance---Jewish law dictates that there must be one guest at the table--and the family takes sides. And what a family!!!!!!
One of the daughters, Jennifer, is an out lesbian who brings her black lover. Another daughter, Nikki, is a prostitute masquerading as a "sex worker", a son, Ethan, has found God and returned to his Jewish roots but slips and "schtups" his first cousin, Vanessa, a Hollywood publicist. And there is a son, Lionel, who has been masquerading as autistic and a grandfather who won't let go of the past. When this group sits down together, fireworks fly and here is a meal none of them will ever forget.
I don't think any of us have ever had to endure the dynamics of a family such as this and are we lucky in that aspect. During the course of the "seder", truth is exposed and the family ends up as one big happy group of people. When they finally see the insides of each other, walls are torn down and true familial feelings emerge. Even though you laugh through the entire movie, you are likely to shed tears during the last few moments.
The DVD is loaded with extras including deleted scenes, a commentary, a casting couch featurette, a behind the scenes featurette which is even funnier than the movie, another short on a mystical seder and a quickie on the visual inspiration. This is a movie that you can watch over and over and laugh every time as well as thank yourself for having a somewhat "normal" family. I loved this movie even with all of the Jewish stchick.