I think if there was more Adam Sandler this movie might have been a success. I'm not even bothered by some of the bad acting. The movie just fails on the premise and goes downhill from there. Simply stated, this is a story of a US Reform Jewish family with the younger daughter preparing for her Bat Mitzvah.
That part of the premise is fine. It just goes off the rails. No one. And I really do mean NO ONE, actually thinks of their Bar/Bat Mitzvah as "entering adulthood", and yet his is repeated throughout the film as if it's some kind of Jewish truth.
I might accept an Orthodox, or perhaps even a practicing Conservative Jewish family having a semblance of this belief, BUT... it does not coincide with over-the-top theatrics, DJs, Intro videos, twizzler stations, etc. In other words: If this is a serious event of 'adulthood', then the families take it seriously.
There is the female Rabbi (again, Reformed Jewish) who is just this walking caricature of a "hip" Rabbi. Again. Nope. Are there hip Rabbis? Of course. But, they also don't look at their upcoming Bat Mitzvah a week before the ceremony asking, "Where's your Mitzvah project, or it won't happen"
There is a beyond cringey scene where Adam Sandler calls his daughter and over speaker phone starts rattling questions on what size maxi pad she needs. Every single child in the universe would immediately either take the phone of speaker. But, here? No. Because we need to hear this awkward conversation to try and make a funny scene. This is followed shortly where she cliff jumps and her maxi pad floats up. In the movie she is both (A) Mortified, and (B) uninterested in grabbing it and hiding it from plain view. It's either A or B. Can't be both.
I had some hope that this movie might represent modern Jewish life, but it's just one cringe after another of unrealistic scenarios.
That part of the premise is fine. It just goes off the rails. No one. And I really do mean NO ONE, actually thinks of their Bar/Bat Mitzvah as "entering adulthood", and yet his is repeated throughout the film as if it's some kind of Jewish truth.
I might accept an Orthodox, or perhaps even a practicing Conservative Jewish family having a semblance of this belief, BUT... it does not coincide with over-the-top theatrics, DJs, Intro videos, twizzler stations, etc. In other words: If this is a serious event of 'adulthood', then the families take it seriously.
There is the female Rabbi (again, Reformed Jewish) who is just this walking caricature of a "hip" Rabbi. Again. Nope. Are there hip Rabbis? Of course. But, they also don't look at their upcoming Bat Mitzvah a week before the ceremony asking, "Where's your Mitzvah project, or it won't happen"
There is a beyond cringey scene where Adam Sandler calls his daughter and over speaker phone starts rattling questions on what size maxi pad she needs. Every single child in the universe would immediately either take the phone of speaker. But, here? No. Because we need to hear this awkward conversation to try and make a funny scene. This is followed shortly where she cliff jumps and her maxi pad floats up. In the movie she is both (A) Mortified, and (B) uninterested in grabbing it and hiding it from plain view. It's either A or B. Can't be both.
I had some hope that this movie might represent modern Jewish life, but it's just one cringe after another of unrealistic scenarios.