I really, really, really wanted to like this.
In the age of 2024, when there’s still barely any pure Hanukkah films to choose from (besides the compulsively watchable monstrosity that is Eight Crazy Nights), my soul is desperate for anything that I can champion among those irreverent Christmas classics we all know and love.
The general assimilation of Jewish identity, the confusion of how it “properly” fits into the holiday canon for people, the overwhelming abundance of stereotypes that have been done to death yet still ripe enough to be picked on, how despite its popularity, it’s not even that important of a Jewish holiday; all of it and more is there for you on a silver platter!
But alas, everything here is more of a valiant attempt to fill that void instead of being, you know, funny at all. It’s clear both writer/director Jonathan Kesselman had a lot of passion on a micro-budget, paired with a cast very committed to a script that’s just dead in the water. Jokes rarely land, the stereotypes ring false in this context, and actors like Nora Dunn become reduced to playing the most insufferable Jewish mother cliche in cinematic history.
With characters like that, that’s clearly part of the unsuccessful joke, similar to the purposefully shitty DV aesthetic of the film that is definitely both a choice and a large budgetary reason. Usually, I love this type of look from this decade, but Kesselman does absolutely nothing with it besides to remind us that yes indeed, Blacksploitation movies had some bad cameras and so do we! Instead of being inventive with his apparent lack of funds, Kesselman opts instead for the look itself to be the joke, and it just sucks. Like the script, it’s a completely missed opportunity in concept and execution.
It’s depressing to see actors like Adam Goldberg and Mario Van Peebles give some genuinely decent comedic performances, because it implies to me they really believed in this material and wanted us to have a fun time as well. But at the end of the day, pretty much everything got fucked in translation, and the last thing a spoof needs to be is THIS much of a soul-sucking bore.
This had more chuckles and is more in line with everything Hanukkah, but I gotta say, I can at least gawk at how memorably awful Eight Crazy Nights is. After the second chance I gave this movie, I’ll forget it next week and that’s a damn shame. Happy last day of Hanukkah I guess who gives a fuck?
I really, really, really wanted to like this.
In the age of 2024, when there’s still barely any pure Hanukkah films to choose from (besides the compulsively watchable monstrosity that is Eight Crazy Nights), my soul is desperate for anything that I can champion among those irreverent Christmas classics we all know and love.
The general assimilation of Jewish identity, the confusion of how it “properly” fits into the holiday canon for people, the overwhelming abundance of stereotypes that have been done to death yet still ripe enough to be picked on, how despite its popularity, it’s not even that important of a Jewish holiday; all of it and more is there for you on a silver platter!
But alas, everything here is more of a valiant attempt to fill that void instead of being, you know, funny at all. It’s clear both writer/director Jonathan Kesselman had a lot of passion on a micro-budget, paired with a cast very committed to a script that’s just dead in the water. Jokes rarely land, the stereotypes ring false in this context, and actors like Nora Dunn become reduced to playing the most insufferable Jewish mother cliche in cinematic history.
With characters like that, that’s clearly part of the unsuccessful joke, similar to the purposefully shitty DV aesthetic of the film that is definitely both a choice and a large budgetary reason. Usually, I love this type of look from this decade, but Kesselman does absolutely nothing with it besides to remind us that yes indeed, Blacksploitation movies had some bad cameras and so do we! Instead of being inventive with his apparent lack of funds, Kesselman opts instead for the look itself to be the joke, and it just sucks. Like the script, it’s a completely missed opportunity in concept and execution.
It’s depressing to see actors like Adam Goldberg and Mario Van Peebles give some genuinely decent comedic performances, because it implies to me they really believed in this material and wanted us to have a fun time as well. But at the end of the day, pretty much everything got fucked in translation, and the last thing a spoof needs to be is THIS much of a soul-sucking bore.
This had more chuckles and is more in line with everything Hanukkah, but I gotta say, I can at least gawk at how memorably awful Eight Crazy Nights is. After the second chance I gave this movie, I’ll forget it next week and that’s a damn shame. Happy last day of Hanukkah I guess who gives a fuck?
