The Hebrew Hammer is coming out of retirement, and he needs your help to make it happen. Nearly 15 years after the original film — an amusing send-up of blaxploitation films and superhero tropes starring Adam Goldberg as the eponymous hero — bowed at Sundance, and the team behind the be-yarmulked crime fighter is back for another big time fight. Goldberg, director Jonathan Kesselman, and producer Harrison Huffman announced earlier this week that they opened up crowdfunding for their long-planned sequel: “The Hebrew Hammer vs. Hitler.”
Goldberg and Kesselman have promised a “bigger, funnier sequel” that will somehow involve both time travel and original leading lady Judy Greer, a project at least partially inspired by the current political climate.
Read More:Mark and Jay Duplass’ Ambitious Crowdfunding Campaign Gets a Major Boost In Its First Week
“We are bringing the Hebrew Hammer out of retirement because of a clarion call for us to do...
Goldberg and Kesselman have promised a “bigger, funnier sequel” that will somehow involve both time travel and original leading lady Judy Greer, a project at least partially inspired by the current political climate.
Read More:Mark and Jay Duplass’ Ambitious Crowdfunding Campaign Gets a Major Boost In Its First Week
“We are bringing the Hebrew Hammer out of retirement because of a clarion call for us to do...
- 10/17/2017
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
Fans of “Black Mirror” know that the popular sci-fi anthology series explores the unintended consequences of modern technology, such as a grain implanted in your ear that allows people to relive their past memories, or software that allows people to converse with the deceased. But what happens when the general frustrations of modern technology play a part in these premises? Funny or Die has the answer.
Read More: ‘Black Mirror’ Season 3 Review: New Genres, New Talent Give Anthology Series an Upgrade
Written by Rob Kutner (“The Daily Show”) and directed by Jonathan Kesselman (“The Hebrew Hammer”), “Realistic Black Mirror” injects technological headaches that we are all too familiar with it, like forgetting passwords and buffering video chats. In one scene, a couple picks up their ideal baby only to be sold a bunch of new supplemental material, like a new adapter and a software update. In another scene, a mysterious...
Read More: ‘Black Mirror’ Season 3 Review: New Genres, New Talent Give Anthology Series an Upgrade
Written by Rob Kutner (“The Daily Show”) and directed by Jonathan Kesselman (“The Hebrew Hammer”), “Realistic Black Mirror” injects technological headaches that we are all too familiar with it, like forgetting passwords and buffering video chats. In one scene, a couple picks up their ideal baby only to be sold a bunch of new supplemental material, like a new adapter and a software update. In another scene, a mysterious...
- 12/9/2016
- by Vikram Murthi
- Indiewire
Reach way back in your memory banks to the year 2003. Remember watching Comedy Central and coming across a Jewish exploitation film called The Hebrew Hammer? Adam Goldberg starred as Mordechai Jefferson Carver, a "Shaft"-type character who battled Santa Claus' son to save Hanukkah.
Now THR says a sequel is in development, and this time around, writer-director Jonathan Kesselman is having The Hebrew Hammer take on the Jewish people's biggest adversary: Adolf Hitler himself. The Hebrew Hammer vs. Hitler is being crowdsourced through a website called Jewcer.com, and Goldberg and co-star Judy Greer are signed on to return. Also along for the ride this time? Jesus Christ himself...or at least the character, anyway. The Hammer heads out, with Jesus as his sidekick, to take down freaking Adolf Hitler. Sounds like this could be some really interesting viewing. Production starts this spring, and you can check out the pitch...
Now THR says a sequel is in development, and this time around, writer-director Jonathan Kesselman is having The Hebrew Hammer take on the Jewish people's biggest adversary: Adolf Hitler himself. The Hebrew Hammer vs. Hitler is being crowdsourced through a website called Jewcer.com, and Goldberg and co-star Judy Greer are signed on to return. Also along for the ride this time? Jesus Christ himself...or at least the character, anyway. The Hammer heads out, with Jesus as his sidekick, to take down freaking Adolf Hitler. Sounds like this could be some really interesting viewing. Production starts this spring, and you can check out the pitch...
- 1/9/2013
- by Ben Pearson
- GeekTyrant
Although it's very unlike the Jews to not just let go of the past, director Jonathan Kesselman and actor Adam Goldberg have spent the last 10 years attempting to mount a sequel to 2003's The Hebrew Hammer, their fluke cult hit about an overcoat-clad Jewish vigilante making the streets safe for everyone's bubbe. Now that sequel is finally set for a spring start date, thanks to a crowd-sourced fundraising campaign on Jewcer and the fact that Israel doesn't need any more money. (What, they want we should pay them not to call us?). As you can ...
- 1/8/2013
- avclub.com
It’s been 10 years since Adam Goldberg played an overcoat-wearing, kick-ass Jew named Mordechai Jefferson Carver in the “Jewxploitation” flick The Hebrew Hammer. Beginning this spring, the Hammer is back, this time for a sequel called — get ready — The Hebrew Hammer vs Hitler, slated to start production this May in New York City, with Goldberg attached to once again play Mordechai, and the original movie’s filmmaker Jonathan Kesselman back to direct.
The movie takes time travel and pours a bucket of Manischewitz all over it. Mordechai tries to prevent a time-traveling Hitler from rewriting Jewish history, with Goldberg also...
The movie takes time travel and pours a bucket of Manischewitz all over it. Mordechai tries to prevent a time-traveling Hitler from rewriting Jewish history, with Goldberg also...
- 1/8/2013
- by Solvej Schou
- EW - Inside Movies
Here's one final, belated Hanukkah present: The Hebrew Hammer is making a comeback. The coming year is already set to host some long-awaited cult comedy rebirths and sequels, from Arrested Development to Anchorman. Now, with the help of crowd-sourced fundraising, a second chapter of writer-director Jonathan Kesselman's 2003 Jewish-themed blaxploitation spoof is aiming to begin production this spring. The sequel will return Adam Goldberg as Mordechai Jefferson Carver, the Shaft of Orthodox Jews, who operates as a private investigator under the moniker from which the film gets its name. In the first movie, he saved the
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- 1/6/2013
- by Jordan Zakarin
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Toronto -- Satirical comics/actors Dave Foley and Kevin McDonald have signed with Canadian indie producer No Equal Entertainment to develop and star in a half-hour 1980s nostalgia comedy for Canwest Global Communications Corp.
The comedy series "Big in the 80s" will be executive produced by J.B. Sugar, Jonathan Kesselman and McDonald and Foley, both of whom are best-known for their 1990s sketch comedy series "Kids in the Hall" on the CBC.
Foley and McDonald will pen the script and star in the new Canadian comedy about former bandmates of a hot 1980s rock group that, after years of estrangement, are forced to reunite and live together.
The announcement of the comedy comes as the five-man Kids in the Hall troupe reteams for "Kids in the Hall: Death Comes to Town," a miniseries that debuts Tuesday night on the CBC.
The comedy series "Big in the 80s" will be executive produced by J.B. Sugar, Jonathan Kesselman and McDonald and Foley, both of whom are best-known for their 1990s sketch comedy series "Kids in the Hall" on the CBC.
Foley and McDonald will pen the script and star in the new Canadian comedy about former bandmates of a hot 1980s rock group that, after years of estrangement, are forced to reunite and live together.
The announcement of the comedy comes as the five-man Kids in the Hall troupe reteams for "Kids in the Hall: Death Comes to Town," a miniseries that debuts Tuesday night on the CBC.
- 1/12/2010
- by By Etan Vlessing
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
A couple of years ago, in the wake of the success of Borat, there was an interesting rumour that popped up about the possibility of Sacha Baron Cohen starring in a remake [1] of Blake Edwards's The Party. Since then we've heard nothing more about the project, making it probably just another wacky rumour dreamed up by a gossip columnist looking for attention. This week, however, The Party has once again resurfaced, this time with writer/director Jonathan Kesselman attempting to set it up as an indepedent production. According to The Hollywood Reporter [2], MGM and Dreamworks failed to follow through on the project, leaving Kesselman to finance it on his own for $20 million. Kesselman previously wrote and directed The Hebrew Hammer, a Jewish-themed blaxploitation spoof that I have not seen, but heard good things about. Still, I have my doubts about whether or not this is a movie that can...
- 3/23/2009
- by Sean
- FilmJunk
I wasn't entirely thrilled last August when news broke that a director of Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers eps was heading back to Hollywood to spearhead a remake of The Party -- one where Hrundi V. Bakshi gets replaced by "a hapless blond Midwesterner [who] will have his appearance changed to resemble an Indian by a zealous studio eager he fit a part." But now the news has become a little more promising.
The Hollywood Reporter posts that Jonathan Kesselman, the director of the most excellent holiday comedy The Hebrew Hammer, has signed on to helm the feature. Since the film looks like it will have little in common with its original source material, and has now got the man who created Mordechai Jefferson Carver and Esther Bloomenbergensteinenthal, things are suddenly looking up -- at least up and out of remake hell.
But the challenge will become finding a blonde Midwesterner who...
The Hollywood Reporter posts that Jonathan Kesselman, the director of the most excellent holiday comedy The Hebrew Hammer, has signed on to helm the feature. Since the film looks like it will have little in common with its original source material, and has now got the man who created Mordechai Jefferson Carver and Esther Bloomenbergensteinenthal, things are suddenly looking up -- at least up and out of remake hell.
But the challenge will become finding a blonde Midwesterner who...
- 3/23/2009
- by Monika Bartyzel
- Cinematical
Now that Steve Martin has effectively killed off one of the most iconic comedy characters ever, let's hope he has nothing to do with this remake. Jonathan Kesselman, helmer of Comedy Central's "The Hebrew Hammer," will now direct a revamp of the Blake Edwards' comedy "The Party." Marco Garibaldi is producing under his Godfather Entertainment company.Apparently, this is a $20 million independently financed film that will be looking for cameos by various of high-profile Hollywood folks.In "The Party," Peter Sellers starred as Hrundi V. Bakshi, an oafish Indian extra on a film who is mistakenly invited to a high profile party and innocently turns the place upside down. The most memorable scene is by far the "Birdy Num Num" via the home's sound system which is hilariously heard by all attending. ...
- 3/23/2009
- Upcoming-Movies.com
Jonathan Kesselman, director of Comedy Central's "The Hebrew Hammer," will helm the remake of Blake Edwards' The Party that Marco Garibaldi is producing under his Godfather Entertainment. The project is a $20 million independently financed film that will aim for cameos by a number of high-profile Hollywood personalities. In Edwards' "Party," Peter Sellers starred as Hrundi V. Bakshi, an Indian extra who inadvertently is invited to a swank Hollywood party. Garibaldi, who has brought on Brandon Gibson and Jim Russo to help him write the script, will tweak the conceit, focusing on a blond Midwesterner whose appearance is changed by studio executives eager he fit a part.
- 3/23/2009
- Comingsoon.net
Now that Steve Martin has effectively killed off one of the most iconic comedy characters ever, let's hope he has nothing to do with this remake. Jonathan Kesselman, helmer of Comedy Central's "The Hebrew Hammer," will now direct a revamp of the Blake Edwards' comedy "The Party." Marco Garibaldi is producing under his Godfather Entertainment company.Apparently, this is a $20 million independently financed film that will be looking for cameos by various of high-profi...
- 3/23/2009
- Upcoming-Movies.com
Now that Steve Martin has effectively killed off one of the most iconic comedy characters ever, let's hope he has nothing to do with this remake. Jonathan Kesselman, helmer of Comedy Central's "The Hebrew Hammer," will now direct a revamp of the Blake Edwards' comedy "The Party." Marco Garibaldi is producing under his Godfather Entertainment company.Apparently, this is a $20 million independently financed film that will be looking for cameos by various of high-profi...
- 3/23/2009
- Upcoming-Movies.com
He's not exactly a household name, having last directed cult hit The Hebrew Hammer waaaay back in 2003, but Jonathan Kesselman has lined up an interesting job for his return to the big screen: a remake of The Party, originally directed by Pink Panther supremo Blake Edwards.The original movie saw bumbling Indian film extra Hrundi V. Bakshi (played by Peter Sellers) accidentally invited to an exclusive party instead of being fired when two memos are confused. This time, to avoid the dodgy racial politics of the 1968 film, the same role will be that of a blond Midwesterner whose appearance has been changed by studio executives anxious for him to fit a part.There's no start date or cast yet, although the film is aiming to enlist lots of high-profile actors in cameo roles. It's early days, but this might be worth keeping an eye on. After all, Kesselman has kept...
- 3/23/2009
- EmpireOnline
Jonathan Kesselman has signed on to will direct the remake of Blake Edwards' The Party that Marco Garibaldi is producing under his Godfather Entertainment banner. The 1968 cult hit starred Peter Sellers. In the original film, Sellers starred as Hrundi V. Bakshi, an Indian extra who inadvertently is invited to a swank Hollywood party. Garibaldi, who has brought on Brandon Gibson and Jim Russo to help him write the script, will tweak the story, focusing on a blond Midwesterner whose appearance is changed by studio executives eager he fit a part. Garibaldi said last the summer that he was jumping back into the Hollywood game by producing an update of the movie after several earlier attempts at MGM and DreamWorks. The project is a $20 million independently financed film that will aim for cameos by a number of high-profile Hollywood personalities. Kesselman is best known for the Jewish blaxploitation spoof The Hebrew Hammer,...
- 3/23/2009
- by James Cook
- TheMovingPicture.net
Jonathan Kesselman will be the life of the party.
Kesselman, director of Comedy Central's "The Hebrew Hammer," will helm the remake of Blake Edwards' "The Party" that Marco Garibaldi is producing under his Godfather Entertainment banner.
Garibaldi said last the summer that he was jumping back into the Hollywood game by producing an update of the movie after several earlier attempts at MGM and DreamWorks. The project is a $20 million independently financed film that will aim for cameos by a number of high-profile Hollywood personalities.
Kesselman, repped by Apa and Sleeping Giant, is best known for the Jewish blaxploitation spoof "Hammer," which starred Adam Goldberg as a violence-prone hero on a quest to save Hannukah. He also is directing and co-writing "Odd Todd," about a man faced with the hard luck of locking himself out of his apartment as his unemployment checks stop, for Paramount/Nickoledeon.
Kesselman also...
Kesselman, director of Comedy Central's "The Hebrew Hammer," will helm the remake of Blake Edwards' "The Party" that Marco Garibaldi is producing under his Godfather Entertainment banner.
Garibaldi said last the summer that he was jumping back into the Hollywood game by producing an update of the movie after several earlier attempts at MGM and DreamWorks. The project is a $20 million independently financed film that will aim for cameos by a number of high-profile Hollywood personalities.
Kesselman, repped by Apa and Sleeping Giant, is best known for the Jewish blaxploitation spoof "Hammer," which starred Adam Goldberg as a violence-prone hero on a quest to save Hannukah. He also is directing and co-writing "Odd Todd," about a man faced with the hard luck of locking himself out of his apartment as his unemployment checks stop, for Paramount/Nickoledeon.
Kesselman also...
- 3/22/2009
- by By Steven Zeitchik
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
NEW YORK -- Writer Jonathan Kesselman is set to adapt Glenn Frank's prize-winning debut novel, Abe Gilman's Ending, for the screen and will produce the project through his company Worldwide Media Conspiracy.
Kesselman, the writer-director of The Hebrew Hammer and Nickelodeon Studios' upcoming comedy The Orbit of Bob, will produce the feature with Frank.
Ending centers on a depressed man in a wheelchair forced to move to a nursing home after his wife dies. Close to giving up hope, his interest in life is rekindled when a new patient enlists others for a historical project. In an intertwined story line, a young German Jewish boy in post-World War II Boston attempts to discover what happened to his father after the Holocaust.
Ending, published in October, won Frank the Bruce P. Rossley Literary Award for best new voice.
WMC and Vox3 Films are producing an adaptation of Peter Alson's memoir Confessions of an Ivy League Bookie. Kesselman also is attached to direct the comedy Odd Todd for Paramount Pictures.
Kesselman, the writer-director of The Hebrew Hammer and Nickelodeon Studios' upcoming comedy The Orbit of Bob, will produce the feature with Frank.
Ending centers on a depressed man in a wheelchair forced to move to a nursing home after his wife dies. Close to giving up hope, his interest in life is rekindled when a new patient enlists others for a historical project. In an intertwined story line, a young German Jewish boy in post-World War II Boston attempts to discover what happened to his father after the Holocaust.
Ending, published in October, won Frank the Bruce P. Rossley Literary Award for best new voice.
WMC and Vox3 Films are producing an adaptation of Peter Alson's memoir Confessions of an Ivy League Bookie. Kesselman also is attached to direct the comedy Odd Todd for Paramount Pictures.
- 2/22/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Vox3, the company behind the Nicole Kidman starrer Fur, has picked up the rights to Peter Alson's memoir Confessions of an Ivy League Bookie. Alson and David Greenwald are writing the screenplay, which Greenwald will direct. Jonathan Kesselman will produce under his newly formed production banner the Worldwide Media Conspiracy, along with Vox3 principals Andrew Fierberg, Christina Weiss Lurie and Steven Shainberg. Bookie centers on Alson when he was a down-and-out Harvard graduate who gets his real education while working as a bookie in Greenwich Village.
- 9/11/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Mel Gibson's shocking anti-Semitic tirade has turned the actor into the brunt of jokes in new comedy movie The Hebrew Hammer 2: Hammer vs. Hitler. Scriptwriters raced to add a note about the Gibson controversy and include it in the sequel of the 2003 Jewish 'blaxploitation' movie. In the new film, an actor depicted as a very drunk Mel Gibson is seen leaving California coastal diner Moonshadows with two blondes a bottle of Irish whiskey. According to news website Tmz.com, the Gibson character berates valets before speeding off in his car, screaming obscenities about the Jews. Apprehended by a traffic cop, just like Gibson was at the end of July, the actor's much-publicized anti-Semitic tirade is cut short when the cop, The Hebrew Hammer, shoots him through the head, before spraying a bloody Star of David onto the windshield of the movie star's Lexus. Screenwriter and director John Kesselman tells Tmz.com, "Young Jews love The Hebrew Hammer. I think if Mel wants to truly extend an olive branch to the Jewish Community as a whole, his on-screen death would go a long way in accomplishing that goal."...
- 9/1/2006
- WENN
Opens
Friday, Dec. 19 (New York and Los Angeles)
"The Hebrew Hammer" is a crass, sophomoric and, more to the point, offensively unfunny parody that sets out to remake Shaft and his blaxploitation ilk as a Jewish action hero.
Clearly influenced by the Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker comedy cannon, not to mention early Mel Brooks, writer-director Jonathan Kesselman has stretched his original film school short into a very thin feature following the exploits of Mordechai Jefferson Carver, "the baddest hebe this side of Tel Aviv" who must prevent Santa's evil son from destroying Hanukkah.
Strand Releasing, which obviously sees some kind of "Bad Santa"-style counter-programming potential ("Hammer" has already aired on Comedy Central), is opening the film this weekend in Los Angeles and New York, but you don't have to be Jewish to be put off by Kesselman's relentless milking of tired Borscht Belt-era stereotypes.
Distilling his performance into a fine whine, Adam Goldberg is the Hebrew Hammer in question -- an erstwhile private investigator or, as his office door reads, "Certified Circumcised Dick", who has been recruited by Jewish Justice League chief Bloomenbergansteinthal (Peter Coyote struggling with a painful Yiddish accent) to prevent the sinister Damian Claus (Andy Dick) from destroying Hanukkah by any means necessary.
Assisted by Bloomenbergansteinthal's daughter Esther (Judy Greer) and the head of the Kwanzaa Liberation Front Mario Van Peebles), the Hebrew Hammer ultimately gets the job done, no thanks to his guilt-dispensing mother (Nora Dunn).
Kesselman probably bust a gut writing this stuff, but more than a few minutes of the one-gag material quickly begins to grate.
By the time former New York mayor Ed Koch shows up, bound helplessly in a chair as one of Damian's intended victims, the viewer can certainly sympathize.
The Hebrew Hammer
Strand Releasing
A Strand Releasing and ContentFilm presentation
A film by Jonathan Kesselman
Credits:
Director-screenwriter: Jonathan Kesselman
Producers: Josh Kesselman, Sofia Sondervan, Lisa Fragner
Executive producers: Edward R. Pressman, John Schmidt
Director of photography: Kurt Brabbee
Production designer: Cabot McMullan
Editor: Dean Holland
Costume designers: Alysia Raycraft, Michelle Phillips
Music: Michael Cohen
Cast:
Mordechai Jefferson Carver: Adam Goldberg
Esther: Judy Greer
Santa Damian: Andy Dick
Mohammed: Mario Van Peebles
J.J.L. Chief: Peter Coyote
Tiny Tim: Sean Whalen
Jamal: Tony Cox
Mrs. Carver: Nora Dunn
Running time -- 85 minutes
MPAA rating: R Frame 312
Presented by the Atlantic Theater Company
Credits:
Playwright: Keith Reddin
Director: Karen Kohlhaas
Set designer: Walt Spangler
Costume designer: Mimi O'Donnell
Lighting designer: Robert Perry
Sound designer: Scott Myers
Cast:
Lynette (1990s): Mary Beth Peil
Stephanie: Elizabeth Hanly Rice
Tom/Roy/Agent Barry/Conductor: Greg Stuhr
Margie/Marie/Doris: Maggie Kiley
Graham: Larry Bryggman
Lynette (1960s): Mandy Siegfriedcers: Marc Platt, Andre Harrell
Executive producer: Billy Higgins
Director of photography: John R. Leonetti
Production designer: Jasna Stefanovich
Music: Mervyn Warren
Costume designer: Susan Matheson
Editors: Mark Helfrich, Emma E. Hickox
Cast:
Honey Daniels: Jessica Alba
Chaz: Mekhi Phifer
Benny: Lil' Romeo
Gina: Joy Bryant
Michael Ellis: David Moscow
Mrs. Daniels: Lonette McKee
Raymond: Zachary Isaiah Williams
Katrina: Laurie Ann Gibson
As themselves: Missy Elliott, Jadakiss & Sheek, Shawn Desman, Ginuwine, Harmonica Sunbeam, Rodney Jerkins, Silkk, 3rd Storee, Tweet
Running time -- 94 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13>Emma: Dina Waters
Michael: Marc John Jefferies
Megan: Aree Davis
Running time -- 88 minutes
MPAA rating: PG...
Friday, Dec. 19 (New York and Los Angeles)
"The Hebrew Hammer" is a crass, sophomoric and, more to the point, offensively unfunny parody that sets out to remake Shaft and his blaxploitation ilk as a Jewish action hero.
Clearly influenced by the Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker comedy cannon, not to mention early Mel Brooks, writer-director Jonathan Kesselman has stretched his original film school short into a very thin feature following the exploits of Mordechai Jefferson Carver, "the baddest hebe this side of Tel Aviv" who must prevent Santa's evil son from destroying Hanukkah.
Strand Releasing, which obviously sees some kind of "Bad Santa"-style counter-programming potential ("Hammer" has already aired on Comedy Central), is opening the film this weekend in Los Angeles and New York, but you don't have to be Jewish to be put off by Kesselman's relentless milking of tired Borscht Belt-era stereotypes.
Distilling his performance into a fine whine, Adam Goldberg is the Hebrew Hammer in question -- an erstwhile private investigator or, as his office door reads, "Certified Circumcised Dick", who has been recruited by Jewish Justice League chief Bloomenbergansteinthal (Peter Coyote struggling with a painful Yiddish accent) to prevent the sinister Damian Claus (Andy Dick) from destroying Hanukkah by any means necessary.
Assisted by Bloomenbergansteinthal's daughter Esther (Judy Greer) and the head of the Kwanzaa Liberation Front Mario Van Peebles), the Hebrew Hammer ultimately gets the job done, no thanks to his guilt-dispensing mother (Nora Dunn).
Kesselman probably bust a gut writing this stuff, but more than a few minutes of the one-gag material quickly begins to grate.
By the time former New York mayor Ed Koch shows up, bound helplessly in a chair as one of Damian's intended victims, the viewer can certainly sympathize.
The Hebrew Hammer
Strand Releasing
A Strand Releasing and ContentFilm presentation
A film by Jonathan Kesselman
Credits:
Director-screenwriter: Jonathan Kesselman
Producers: Josh Kesselman, Sofia Sondervan, Lisa Fragner
Executive producers: Edward R. Pressman, John Schmidt
Director of photography: Kurt Brabbee
Production designer: Cabot McMullan
Editor: Dean Holland
Costume designers: Alysia Raycraft, Michelle Phillips
Music: Michael Cohen
Cast:
Mordechai Jefferson Carver: Adam Goldberg
Esther: Judy Greer
Santa Damian: Andy Dick
Mohammed: Mario Van Peebles
J.J.L. Chief: Peter Coyote
Tiny Tim: Sean Whalen
Jamal: Tony Cox
Mrs. Carver: Nora Dunn
Running time -- 85 minutes
MPAA rating: R Frame 312
Presented by the Atlantic Theater Company
Credits:
Playwright: Keith Reddin
Director: Karen Kohlhaas
Set designer: Walt Spangler
Costume designer: Mimi O'Donnell
Lighting designer: Robert Perry
Sound designer: Scott Myers
Cast:
Lynette (1990s): Mary Beth Peil
Stephanie: Elizabeth Hanly Rice
Tom/Roy/Agent Barry/Conductor: Greg Stuhr
Margie/Marie/Doris: Maggie Kiley
Graham: Larry Bryggman
Lynette (1960s): Mandy Siegfriedcers: Marc Platt, Andre Harrell
Executive producer: Billy Higgins
Director of photography: John R. Leonetti
Production designer: Jasna Stefanovich
Music: Mervyn Warren
Costume designer: Susan Matheson
Editors: Mark Helfrich, Emma E. Hickox
Cast:
Honey Daniels: Jessica Alba
Chaz: Mekhi Phifer
Benny: Lil' Romeo
Gina: Joy Bryant
Michael Ellis: David Moscow
Mrs. Daniels: Lonette McKee
Raymond: Zachary Isaiah Williams
Katrina: Laurie Ann Gibson
As themselves: Missy Elliott, Jadakiss & Sheek, Shawn Desman, Ginuwine, Harmonica Sunbeam, Rodney Jerkins, Silkk, 3rd Storee, Tweet
Running time -- 94 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13>Emma: Dina Waters
Michael: Marc John Jefferies
Megan: Aree Davis
Running time -- 88 minutes
MPAA rating: PG...
Opens
Friday, Dec. 19 (New York and Los Angeles)
"The Hebrew Hammer" is a crass, sophomoric and, more to the point, offensively unfunny parody that sets out to remake Shaft and his blaxploitation ilk as a Jewish action hero.
Clearly influenced by the Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker comedy cannon, not to mention early Mel Brooks, writer-director Jonathan Kesselman has stretched his original film school short into a very thin feature following the exploits of Mordechai Jefferson Carver, "the baddest hebe this side of Tel Aviv" who must prevent Santa's evil son from destroying Hanukkah.
Strand Releasing, which obviously sees some kind of "Bad Santa"-style counter-programming potential ("Hammer" has already aired on Comedy Central), is opening the film this weekend in Los Angeles and New York, but you don't have to be Jewish to be put off by Kesselman's relentless milking of tired Borscht Belt-era stereotypes.
Distilling his performance into a fine whine, Adam Goldberg is the Hebrew Hammer in question -- an erstwhile private investigator or, as his office door reads, "Certified Circumcised Dick", who has been recruited by Jewish Justice League chief Bloomenbergansteinthal (Peter Coyote struggling with a painful Yiddish accent) to prevent the sinister Damian Claus (Andy Dick) from destroying Hanukkah by any means necessary.
Assisted by Bloomenbergansteinthal's daughter Esther (Judy Greer) and the head of the Kwanzaa Liberation Front Mario Van Peebles), the Hebrew Hammer ultimately gets the job done, no thanks to his guilt-dispensing mother (Nora Dunn).
Kesselman probably bust a gut writing this stuff, but more than a few minutes of the one-gag material quickly begins to grate.
By the time former New York mayor Ed Koch shows up, bound helplessly in a chair as one of Damian's intended victims, the viewer can certainly sympathize.
The Hebrew Hammer
Strand Releasing
A Strand Releasing and ContentFilm presentation
A film by Jonathan Kesselman
Credits:
Director-screenwriter: Jonathan Kesselman
Producers: Josh Kesselman, Sofia Sondervan, Lisa Fragner
Executive producers: Edward R. Pressman, John Schmidt
Director of photography: Kurt Brabbee
Production designer: Cabot McMullan
Editor: Dean Holland
Costume designers: Alysia Raycraft, Michelle Phillips
Music: Michael Cohen
Cast:
Mordechai Jefferson Carver: Adam Goldberg
Esther: Judy Greer
Santa Damian: Andy Dick
Mohammed: Mario Van Peebles
J.J.L. Chief: Peter Coyote
Tiny Tim: Sean Whalen
Jamal: Tony Cox
Mrs. Carver: Nora Dunn
Running time -- 85 minutes
MPAA rating: R Frame 312
Presented by the Atlantic Theater Company
Credits:
Playwright: Keith Reddin
Director: Karen Kohlhaas
Set designer: Walt Spangler
Costume designer: Mimi O'Donnell
Lighting designer: Robert Perry
Sound designer: Scott Myers
Cast:
Lynette (1990s): Mary Beth Peil
Stephanie: Elizabeth Hanly Rice
Tom/Roy/Agent Barry/Conductor: Greg Stuhr
Margie/Marie/Doris: Maggie Kiley
Graham: Larry Bryggman
Lynette (1960s): Mandy Siegfriedcers: Marc Platt, Andre Harrell
Executive producer: Billy Higgins
Director of photography: John R. Leonetti
Production designer: Jasna Stefanovich
Music: Mervyn Warren
Costume designer: Susan Matheson
Editors: Mark Helfrich, Emma E. Hickox
Cast:
Honey Daniels: Jessica Alba
Chaz: Mekhi Phifer
Benny: Lil' Romeo
Gina: Joy Bryant
Michael Ellis: David Moscow
Mrs. Daniels: Lonette McKee
Raymond: Zachary Isaiah Williams
Katrina: Laurie Ann Gibson
As themselves: Missy Elliott, Jadakiss & Sheek, Shawn Desman, Ginuwine, Harmonica Sunbeam, Rodney Jerkins, Silkk, 3rd Storee, Tweet
Running time -- 94 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13>Emma: Dina Waters
Michael: Marc John Jefferies
Megan: Aree Davis
Running time -- 88 minutes
MPAA rating: PG...
Friday, Dec. 19 (New York and Los Angeles)
"The Hebrew Hammer" is a crass, sophomoric and, more to the point, offensively unfunny parody that sets out to remake Shaft and his blaxploitation ilk as a Jewish action hero.
Clearly influenced by the Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker comedy cannon, not to mention early Mel Brooks, writer-director Jonathan Kesselman has stretched his original film school short into a very thin feature following the exploits of Mordechai Jefferson Carver, "the baddest hebe this side of Tel Aviv" who must prevent Santa's evil son from destroying Hanukkah.
Strand Releasing, which obviously sees some kind of "Bad Santa"-style counter-programming potential ("Hammer" has already aired on Comedy Central), is opening the film this weekend in Los Angeles and New York, but you don't have to be Jewish to be put off by Kesselman's relentless milking of tired Borscht Belt-era stereotypes.
Distilling his performance into a fine whine, Adam Goldberg is the Hebrew Hammer in question -- an erstwhile private investigator or, as his office door reads, "Certified Circumcised Dick", who has been recruited by Jewish Justice League chief Bloomenbergansteinthal (Peter Coyote struggling with a painful Yiddish accent) to prevent the sinister Damian Claus (Andy Dick) from destroying Hanukkah by any means necessary.
Assisted by Bloomenbergansteinthal's daughter Esther (Judy Greer) and the head of the Kwanzaa Liberation Front Mario Van Peebles), the Hebrew Hammer ultimately gets the job done, no thanks to his guilt-dispensing mother (Nora Dunn).
Kesselman probably bust a gut writing this stuff, but more than a few minutes of the one-gag material quickly begins to grate.
By the time former New York mayor Ed Koch shows up, bound helplessly in a chair as one of Damian's intended victims, the viewer can certainly sympathize.
The Hebrew Hammer
Strand Releasing
A Strand Releasing and ContentFilm presentation
A film by Jonathan Kesselman
Credits:
Director-screenwriter: Jonathan Kesselman
Producers: Josh Kesselman, Sofia Sondervan, Lisa Fragner
Executive producers: Edward R. Pressman, John Schmidt
Director of photography: Kurt Brabbee
Production designer: Cabot McMullan
Editor: Dean Holland
Costume designers: Alysia Raycraft, Michelle Phillips
Music: Michael Cohen
Cast:
Mordechai Jefferson Carver: Adam Goldberg
Esther: Judy Greer
Santa Damian: Andy Dick
Mohammed: Mario Van Peebles
J.J.L. Chief: Peter Coyote
Tiny Tim: Sean Whalen
Jamal: Tony Cox
Mrs. Carver: Nora Dunn
Running time -- 85 minutes
MPAA rating: R Frame 312
Presented by the Atlantic Theater Company
Credits:
Playwright: Keith Reddin
Director: Karen Kohlhaas
Set designer: Walt Spangler
Costume designer: Mimi O'Donnell
Lighting designer: Robert Perry
Sound designer: Scott Myers
Cast:
Lynette (1990s): Mary Beth Peil
Stephanie: Elizabeth Hanly Rice
Tom/Roy/Agent Barry/Conductor: Greg Stuhr
Margie/Marie/Doris: Maggie Kiley
Graham: Larry Bryggman
Lynette (1960s): Mandy Siegfriedcers: Marc Platt, Andre Harrell
Executive producer: Billy Higgins
Director of photography: John R. Leonetti
Production designer: Jasna Stefanovich
Music: Mervyn Warren
Costume designer: Susan Matheson
Editors: Mark Helfrich, Emma E. Hickox
Cast:
Honey Daniels: Jessica Alba
Chaz: Mekhi Phifer
Benny: Lil' Romeo
Gina: Joy Bryant
Michael Ellis: David Moscow
Mrs. Daniels: Lonette McKee
Raymond: Zachary Isaiah Williams
Katrina: Laurie Ann Gibson
As themselves: Missy Elliott, Jadakiss & Sheek, Shawn Desman, Ginuwine, Harmonica Sunbeam, Rodney Jerkins, Silkk, 3rd Storee, Tweet
Running time -- 94 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13>Emma: Dina Waters
Michael: Marc John Jefferies
Megan: Aree Davis
Running time -- 88 minutes
MPAA rating: PG...
- 12/19/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
TORONTO -- Montreal's Just for Laughs comedy festival Wednesday unveiled its comedy film lineup for this year's event, to kick off July 10 with the North American premiere of Mon idole (Anything You Say), French filmmaker Guillaume Caneti's sardonic satire about power relationships. Comedia, Just for Laughs' international comedy film festival, will showcase 25 features in all and close July 20 with the Canadian premiere of Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini's American Splendor, the Grand Jury Prize winner at this year's Sundance Film Festival. The film sidebar also will screen Jonathan Kesselman's first feature, The Hebrew Hammer, a Jewish take on the blaxploitation genre that stars Adam Goldberg and Andy Dick.
- 6/26/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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