What happens when a nice New York Jewish boy brings his Catholic fiancee and her parents home for Shabbos?
Chaos, humor — and death. At least that’s the case in the 2024 comedy “Bad Shabbos,” which is starting an open-ended run on May 30 in four Northern California cities: San Francisco, Berkeley, San Rafael and Sebastopol.
The 2024 comedy, shot on the Upper West Side of New York City, rolls all the stereotypes of New York Jews into a fast-paced film that balances the existential comedy of what it means to be Jewish with a shot of pure physical comedy straight out of a 1930s Hollywood farce.
“Our main goal was to take everything we love about the comedies of old and — like the characters in this film — try to adapt to modern times,” director Daniel Robbins said in a press release.
In “Bad Shabbos,” Dan (Jon Bass) is marrying Meg (Meghan Leathers), who was raised Catholic but is converting to Judaism. They are visiting Dan’s parents, Richard (David Paymer) and Ellen (Kyra Sedgwick), for Shabbat, and Meg’s Catholic parents are invited.
If Catholic in-laws-to-be aren’t enough fodder for a Jewish comedy, everything gets crazier when there’s a dead body to dispose of, with the help of doorman Jordan (Cliff Smith, perhaps better known by his rap name, Method Man).
Robbins, who has directed primarily indie horror movies, including 2018’s “Pledge,” said he “stole” for “Bad Shabbos” from some of the best Jewish directors — and best directing talent, period — that Hollywood can offer: “Ernst Lubitsch’s blocking, Billy Wilder’s efficiency, Woody Allen’s aesthetic, Mike Nichols’ performances, and Nora Ephron and Neil Simon’s dialogue,” he said in the film’s notes. “But the greatest heist is probably from the early 2000s comedies I grew up watching.”
Sacramento Jewish Film Festival director Teven Laxer told J. earlier this year that “some of the scenes remind me of ‘Annie Hall,’” Woody Allen’s angsty 1977 comedy about interfaith relations.
“What I really love is having a theater full of people laughing,” Laxer said. “I laughed so hard [at ‘Bad Shabbos’] I missed some of the lines I had started laughing at.”
Robbins has said he wanted to show the “realities” of modern Jewish life, and one that “authentically portrays my subculture — New York Jews.”
In addition to the Sacramento fest, “Bad Shabbos” has already screened in other regional festivals, including the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, the East Bay International Jewish Film Festival and the Sonoma International Film Festival. It won the Audience Award at the 2024 Tribeca film festival.
With a broader release, more people will get a chance to see just how bad a Shabbat can be — or how good.
“My family gathered for Shabbos dinner every Friday night, and even on the more chaotic nights, there was an underlying warmth,” Robbins said.
As Smith says in the film, “It’s Shabbos, baby!”