Bad Shabbos

By Joanna Langfield

This dizzy comedy feels like the little movie that could. And did.

A dandy ensemble plays (and I do mean plays) an extended family, gathering on New York’s Upper West Side for Shabbos dinner. After a surprising twist, everybody has to decide just how to deal with it. Or not.

Slim and supremely silly, filmmaker Daniel Robbins’, and co-writer Zack Weiner’s, film has been playing the circuit for a year or so, winning awards at film festivals and playing to appreciative art house crowds. Now, perhaps when we could all use a good laugh, the film’s distributors, Menemsha Films, have gone for the big time, making their giggly gem more accessible, in wider, theatrical distribution.

While the script relies on some not unexpected shtick, the terrific ensemble makes most of it work. Veterans Kyra Sedgwick and David Paymer bring a great sense of not just understanding, but timing to their parental positions here, but the one who steals the show is Method Man, aka Clifford Smith. The hip-hop star turned actor has impressed on screen before, but this may be his most winning turn yet. He’s adorable. As is, for the most part, this movie that’s not so “bad” after all.