New on DVD
Jack Black (“High Fidelity,” “School of Rock”) stars as Lenny the shark in the Academy Award-nominated animated film” Shark Tale.” … Paul Reiser stars in the new “Mad About You” DVD collection, which has a long list of Jewish guest stars including Hank Azaria, Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks . … Richard Schiff (“The West Wing”) portrays the real-life Jerry Wexler in the Oscar-nominated “Ray,” based upon the life of the legendary Ray Charles. … German filmmaker Margarethe von Trotta directs the war drama “Rosenstrasse,” based on the plight of “mixed marriages” between Jewish men and non-Jewish women during the Holocaust. … And there’s also the long-awaited return of Pauly Shore in the mockumentary “Pauly Shore is Dead” which has cameos in it by Ben Stiller and Jerry Springer .
Early mazel tovs
CBS head honcho Les Moonves says he’s actually considering “Daily Show” host Jon Stewart to replace Dan Rather. … Jerry and Jessica Seinfeld may be expecting their third child, Us Weekly reports.
Apparently, not so funny
You know you’re in trouble whenever Jews think you’re too Jewish. To bring attention to Borscht Belt comedian Jackie Mason’s seventh one-man show, aptly titled “Jackie Mason Freshly Squeezed,” (which starts in March in New York), producers took out a Times Square billboard with the slogan “Just One Jew Talking” in big letters. They were hoping to bring back audiences who were scared away by Mason’s last attempt at being funny, which included backup singers and dancers. The owner and mostly Jewish residents of the building atop which the billboard rested did not want the word Jew so big, so producers altered the sign.
An affair to remember
We may think we know the star of “Will and Grace,” but Debra Messing is introducing us to a new character when her romantic comedy, “The Wedding Date,” arrives in theaters this month. In the film, Messing stars as Kat Ellis, who finds herself in a bit of a bind. She has to attend her half-sister’s wedding (where her ex is actually the best man) and she has no date. So she plunks down $6,000 and hires an escort. “I loved the idea of an ‘everywoman’ hiring an escort to help her create an illusion of a more exotic romantic life than she really has,” says Messing. “How everyone in Kat’s world responds when she shows up with Nick [the escort] on her arm — because he’s clearly a very handsome, dashing, sophisticated man — was really fascinating to me. Suddenly everyone looks at her with new, accepting eyes just because he’s standing next to her. That kind of judgment is very real, and also very interesting to observe.”
Trivial pursuits
Director Barry Sonnenfeld (“Men in Black,” “Wild Wild West”) has purchased the rights to “The Know-It-All: One Man’s Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World” by A.J. Jacobs. The nonfiction book chronicles Jacobs’ attempt to read the entire Encyclopedia Britannica. “It’s going to be a great movie,” says a wry Jacobs, who suggests Will Smith as the lead. “A guy reading in a room by himself for an hour and a half.”
Donald Trump’s recent nuptials was a real star-studded affair. But all the celebs were shocked when an appearance was made by former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “We just didn’t put him on the guest list for security reasons,” a source told the New York Daily News.
Columnist Benyamin Cohen is the editor of Jewsweek magazine.