The Reel Schmooze

Welcome to The Reel Schmooze with ToI film reviewer Jordan Hoffman and host Amanda Borschel-Dan, where we bring you all the entertainment news and film reviews a Jew can use.

Continuing in our decade-by-decade comedy viewing, this week's featured Schmooze film is 1982's "Tootsie."

Starring Dustin Hoffman as the gender-bending Michael Dorsey/ Dorothy Michaels, the supporting roles are equally star-studded, with 1980s greats Jessica Lange (who won an Oscar for her role), Teri Garr, Dabney Coleman, and Charles Durning.

Sydney Pollack directs -- and shares the spotlight in several scenes as the beleaguered agent. But the true scene stealer is a young Bill Murray, who plays Hoffman's playwright roommate.

Although set in a daytime drama (don't say "soap opera!") in the 1980s, the feminist questions raised are still all too relevant.

So put on your shoulder pads and let’s hear who gave this film an “oy,” “meh” or the prized “not bad” this week on The Reel Schmooze.

The Reel Schmooze is produced by Ari Schlacht and can be found wherever you get your podcasts.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to The Reel Schmooze with ToI film reviewer Jordan Hoffman and host Amanda Borschel-Dan, where we bring you all the entertainment news and film reviews a Jew can use.

Continuing in our decade-by-decade comedy viewing, this week's featured Schmooze film is "The In-Laws."

The 1979 comedic adventure stars the great Jewish actors Alan Arkin playing dentist Sheldon "Shelly" Kornpett and Peter Falk as Vince Ricardo, a loose-cannon CIA agent who initially poses as an eccentric businessman.

The script's outlandish premise sees the soon-to-be in-laws travel to "Tijata," a small island south of Honduras, where they eventually meet the insane dictator, General Garcia, and his hand puppet.

With slapstick humor and car chases, Hoffman was right back, chuckling away in his childhood living room. For Borschel-Dan, the highlight was the amazing 1970s clothing.

Let’s hear who gave this film an “oy,” “meh” or the prized “not bad” this week on The Reel Schmooze.

The Reel Schmooze is produced by Ari Schlacht and can be found wherever you get your podcasts.

 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to The Reel Schmooze with ToI film reviewer Jordan Hoffman and host Amanda Borschel-Dan, where we bring you all the entertainment news and film reviews a Jew can use.

This week's featured Schmooze film is "The Apartment," a 1960 iconic work of dark comedy by famed filmmaker Billy Wilder.

Starring Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine and Fred MacMurray, the film takes us to the massive offices of an insurance conglomerate where Lemmon is attempting to climb the corporate ladder. A bit of a "shnook," he finds himself lending out his Upper West Side apartment to a group of four adulterous bosses for their flings.

At the same time, a quiet, amiable connection is made between Lemmon and MacLaine, an elevator girl, who, it turns out, is also one of the bosses' girls.

The movie was nominated for 10 Academy Awards and won five Oscars. Its resonance lingers and comedian Chris Rock recently gave it a nod in a lengthy The New York Times interview.

Let’s hear who gave this film an “oy,” “meh” or the prized “not bad” this week on The Reel Schmooze.

The Reel Schmooze is produced by Ari Schlacht and can be found wherever you get your podcasts.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to The Reel Schmooze with ToI film reviewer Jordan Hoffman and host Amanda Borschel-Dan, where we bring you all the entertainment news and film reviews a Jew can use.

This week's featured Schmooze film is a rollicking Holocaust-themed documentary called "The Stamp Thief."

“Seinfeld” producer Gary Gilbert leads a gang of curious individuals on the trail of a trove of stamps stolen from Jews in the Holocaust and reportedly buried in a small town in Poland.

Gilbert's neighbor, documentary film director Dan Sturman first serves as the voice of reason, but is soon caught up in the saga and begins plotting alongside his neighbor.

Eventually, the team hatches a surreal plan to make a fake movie to get into the basement that they believe the stamp stash is stored in.

Let’s hear who gave this film an “oy,” “meh” or the prized “not bad” this week on The Reel Schmooze.

The Reel Schmooze is produced by Ari Schlacht and can be found wherever you get your podcasts.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to The Reel Schmooze with ToI film reviewer Jordan Hoffman and host Amanda Borschel-Dan, where we bring you all the entertainment news and film reviews a Jew can use.

Last week, Borschel-Dan threw down a challenge: Can anyone suggest a Sukkot-themed film?

Dozens of loyal listeners wrote in with 2004's "Ushpizin," directed by Gidi Dar.

The unforgettable Israeli film -- which both of our Schmoozers had actually seen decades ago and blanked on -- explores the life of an unlucky ultra-Orthodox couple about to celebrate the Sukkot holiday.

The couple, played by Shuly Rand (who also wrote the script) and his then-wife Michal Bat Sheva Rand, is fairly new to religion, but extremely devout. And so when their last shekel is spent, they pray fervently for a miracle. As they say, God works in mysterious ways, and so when their prayers are answered, a pair of reprobates made sure to stir the pot.

Let’s hear who gave this film an “oy,” “meh” or the prized “not bad” this week on The Reel Schmooze.

The Reel Schmooze is produced by Ari Schlacht and can be found wherever you get your podcasts.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to The Reel Schmooze with ToI film reviewer Jordan Hoffman and host Amanda Borschel-Dan, where we bring you all the entertainment news and film reviews a Jew can use.

Hoffman starts off with two quick Jangles -- news with a Jewish angle- before we devote the program to the original 1927 "The Jazz Singer" and a technicolor 1991 The Simpsons parody episode, "Like Father, Like Clown."

Now in the public domain, a pristine digitally remastered version of the 99-year-old film can be viewed freely on YouTube. Although still primarily a silent film -- complete with hammy acting and text cards -- it features the world's first lines of synched dialogue and half a dozen songs.

Hoffman recounts how the story was written especially for its star, Al Jolson, who was born to a rabbinical family in Lithuania that moved to the United States when he was five.

The plot unfolds on the eve of Yom Kippur, the Jewish day of atonement, and pits a fifth-generation cantor father against his entertainer son. The film is bookended by the Kol Nidre service and its famous melody.

Unfortunately, "The Jazz Singer" is likely best known for its controversial blackface scenes. In what is unimaginable today, Hoffman explains that Jolson's trademark act was incredibly popular in that era -- and especially among Black Americans.

In the final section of our program, we turn to 1991 The Simpsons comic riff on the film. After Krusty the Clown's past comes to light, Bart and Lisa learn rabbinic literature to help mend bridges with his rabbi father.

Let’s hear who gave this film and television episode an “oy,” “meh” or the prized “not bad” this week on The Reel Schmooze.

The Reel Schmooze is produced by Ari Schlacht and can be found wherever you get your podcasts.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to The Reel Schmooze with ToI film reviewer Jordan Hoffman and host Amanda Borschel-Dan, where we bring you all the entertainment news and film reviews a Jew can use.

This week, we chew on the new documentary now in theaters, "You Had To Be There: How the Toronto Godspell Ignited the Comedy Revolution, Spread Love & Overalls, and Created a Community That Changed the World (In a Canadian Kind of Way)."

As depicted in the delightful film, if you ever wondered how a whole parcel of comedy greats got their starts, it was in a Canadian production of "Godspell" in 1972 that was a resounding success at Toronto's Royal Alexandra Theatre.

All stars aligned to bring together the constellation of Martin Short, Eugene Levy, Dave Thomas, Gilda Radner, Victor Garber, Andrea Martin and Jayne Eastwood, with musical director Paul Shaffer. Ironically, the musical depicting Jesus and his disciples was heavily Jewish -- sometimes with comical results.

Let’s hear who gave this film an “oy,” “meh” or the prized “not bad” this week on The Reel Schmooze.

The Reel Schmooze is produced by Ari Schlacht and can be found wherever you get your podcasts.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to The Reel Schmooze with ToI film reviewer Jordan Hoffman and host Amanda Borschel-Dan, where we bring you all the entertainment news and film reviews a Jew can use.

This week, we abandon all pretense of intellectuality and hunker down to watch the new Gal Gadot vehicle, "The Runner," now streaming on Amazon Prime Video.

The film is a fast-paced sprint through London, during which Gadot must arrive at a certain location to save her son, who is in an induced diabetic coma.

The plot seems simple, but the end carries a twist that got Borschel-Dan's husband thinking the whole week.

Let’s hear who gave this film an “oy,” “meh” or the prized “not bad” this week on The Reel Schmooze.

The Reel Schmooze is produced by Ari Schlacht and can be found wherever you get your podcasts.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to The Reel Schmooze with ToI film reviewer Jordan Hoffman and host Amanda Borschel-Dan, where we bring you all the entertainment news and film reviews a Jew can use.

This month marks the 60th anniversary of the pioneering sci-fi series, Star Trek. Expert in all things Trekky, Hoffman, when he's not schmoozing with Borschel-Dan, also hosts the STARLOG podcast and co-wrote The Star Trek Book of Friendship.

So this week, the duo nerd out on all things Jewish behind the beloved franchise -- Spock's famous hand gesture is adapted from the Priestly Blessing, in one notable example. Eventually, we laser in on two episodes that illustrate the show's ethos.

From the original Star Trek television series, Hoffman chose "The City on the Edge of Forever." We hear about how, when time-traveling to 1930s New York, Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock faced a tough decision to stave off a potential global Nazi takeover.

And in Deep Space Nine's "In the Hands of the Prophets," we see how the program deals with themes of religious extremism versus science.

Let’s hear who gave this series an “oy,” “meh” or the prized “not bad” this week on The Reel Schmooze.

The Reel Schmooze is produced by Ari Schlacht and can be found wherever you get your podcasts.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to The Reel Schmooze with ToI film reviewer Jordan Hoffman and host Amanda Borschel-Dan, where we bring you all the entertainment news and film reviews a Jew can use.

Taking a break from pulling classics out of the vaults, this week's film, "Don't Say Good Luck," just dropped on Netflix.

Sunny Sandler stars as a 16-year-old theater kid, backed up by a cast including Melanie Lynskey, Max Greenfield, Stephanie Beatriz, Bebe Neuwirth, and Steve Buscemi.

Within minutes, it's clear that what could have been a superficial teen flick produced by Adam and Jackie Sandler is a relatable look at "the show going on" while a family member fights cancer. Notes Hoffman, that depth may be due in part to the involvement of director Julia Hart and co-producer/writer Jordan Horowitz -- both veteran filmmakers with proven hits.

However, it is Sunny Sandler who is the glowing glue of the movie, providing singing and acting chops rare in a 16-year-old.

Hoffman gives a bit of the backstory behind the movie's production and insight into the choice of "The Waitress" as the play within the film. Labeling it a "weeper," he qualifies that it's not really a downer, rather realistically portrays the family's dilemmas.

Borschel-Dan, who watched with two of her teenagers, realizes they are 100% the target audience for this intergenerational, Jewish-coded tale that is all too familiar.

Let’s hear who gave this film an “oy,” “meh” or the prized “not bad” this week on The Reel Schmooze.

The Reel Schmooze is produced by Ari Schlacht and can be found wherever you get your podcasts.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.