Keeping Up with the Steins movie review (2006)

Adam consults with his wife Joanne (Jami Gertz) about a bar mitzvah to shame the Steins. It may involve booking Dodger Stadium and having his son Benjamin (Daryl Sabara of "Spy Kids") arrive from the sky. Money is no object. Hiring a singer? How about Neil Diamond?

The problem with this grandiose scheme is that young Benjamin has no heart for it. Because he narrates the movie, we learn from his point of view that he feels embarrassed by all the attention, overwhelmed by the scope of the ceremony and terrified by his inability to master Hebrew in time to read it aloud during the religious prelude to the conspicuous consumption. He is also sad that his grandfather Irwin (Garry Marshall) has not been invited; Irwin and Adam have not been on speaking terms for years.

Benjamin appeals to his mother to downsize the bar mitzvah plans, and secretly invites Grandfather Irwin to the ceremony. We discover that Irwin now enjoys a delightful new lifestyle on an Indian reservation, with his young girl friend Sacred Feather (Daryl Hannah). When Irwin and Sacred Feather arrive at the Fiedlers for dinner, Sacred Feather turns out to have dietary restrictions that make Jewish customs seem positively permissive. Marshall and Hannah have small roles, but they're perfectly realized.

Another key character is Benjamin's grandmother and Irwin's first wife, Rose (Doris Roberts). How will the once-married couple get along, and will Sacred Feather get caught in the middle? The movie could handle these questions with overacting, screaming matches and overwrought drama as "When Do We Eat?" does, but no. The screenplay by Mark Zakarin (a writer for "The L Word" on TV) uses its share of exaggeration and hyperbole, but the characters behave according to their natures and needs, as we all do.

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