A strange and silly romp about a Friday night family dinner that gets chaotic really quickly, Bad Shabbos is light and welcoming, but feels like it has been directed by three different people.
I love to watch movies that I know nothing about. There is a sense of fun and mystery about pressing play and not having a clue what is about to unfold other than what you see on the movie poster. Good or bad, that’s all part of the surprise. And my very favorite thing is seeing actors appear in the film that I had no clue would be there. It’s like meeting up with an old friend.
Bad Shabbos is about a family that is coming to dinner on Friday night to celebrate Shabbat. The parents are Modern Orthodox, and they are hosting their teen son who lives with them, their daughter and her boyfriend, their son and his fiancé (who is converting), and her parents. When an accident happens and someone dies, chaos ensues to try to keep it quiet from the new in-laws. Doing their best to come up with a plan, they enlist the doorman to help them as well.
This is an incredibly strange movie, but not in a bad way, and it gets better the longer you watch. There are times where it feels like the script has been written by different people, and few small segments that feel like a new director came in. That said, it works?
The scenes between Jewish mother, Ellen, and future daughter-in-law, Meg are itchingly uncomfortable. Regardless of your religion, we all know that person who lays the judgement about cutting fruit correctly in two or three stunted words like, “No, it’s fine…” and you are tense for the rest of the evening.
Knowing that they are not familiar with the customs, there are also some very funny moments around the dinner table as the family makes up rituals to try to distract the in-laws. Covering their eyes and singing loudly, along with a few funny conversations (“No one keeps their foreskin!”) keeps things moving, if not always in the right direction.
Most of the characters are fairly likeable, but Jordan (played by Method Man), the doorman, is most of the reason to watch this movie. When he arrives on screen, he is all of the charm and presence that you didn’t know you’d been looking for. Plus, there are a few scenes reminiscent of Pulp Fiction that come out of absolutely nowhere.
As a total side note and because I’m a nerd, I have to point out that both Josh Mostel (who plays a man walking on the street) and David Paymer (who plays the dad, Richard) are in this film. They played Ira and Barry, the ice cream magnates in City Slickers. It’s very cool to see them in something again, even if they’re never in a scene together.
Bad Shabbos is a short and amusing film that I never fully connected with, but that didn’t bother me. There are ideas that are heavily cliché, but in the next scene something out of left field will happen. It’s worth a watch if you need something light, just know that you will have a few moments of, “Wait, what?”.
Runtime: 84 minutes
Motion Picture Rating: TV-14
Languages Spoken In The Film: English
Should You Watch It? Yes
Did I Cry? Nope
My Rating: 3.25/5 Stars
Available: Free on Netflix, to rent on Prime Video, or may be available for free on other streaming platforms
I love to watch movies that I know nothing about. There is a sense of fun and mystery about pressing play and not having a clue what is about to unfold other than what you see on the movie poster. Good or bad, that’s all part of the surprise. And my very favorite thing is seeing actors appear in the film that I had no clue would be there. It’s like meeting up with an old friend.
