Keeping Up with the Steins (PG-13)
Mike:
Scott:
Scott: Tonight we are reviewing Keeping Up with the Steins
. A coming of age drama and a young boy's journey to his bar mitzvah.
What's you think Mike?
Mike: It was fine. It was a good, not great, family themed movie.
It was like My Big Fat Jewish Bar Mitzvah, but not as funny as the My Big Fat Greek Wedding.
Scott: Greek Wedding was funny, this... not so much.
I think the theatre showing this movie is best described as a great place to get a nap. I know I just about napped several times during the movie.
Mike: Oh, so you loved it then?
Scott: I laughed here or there as well. Mostly at the few obnoxious moments and characters.
Mike: This movie had some funny moments. I admit I laughed, but it wasn't funny all the way through.
Some of the over the top stuff at the beginning cracked me up. Nothing like trying to outdo each other's Bar Mitzvah celebrations.
Scott: The movie centers on a Jewish family and I can say that I have never felt so out of place in a movie before... I could even relate to ancient Asian fighting movies more than this movie.
Mike: I didn't feel out of place. I'm not Greek and I didn't feel out of place at that movie either.
Scott: I didn't feel as though there was any crossover appeal. The jokes seemed to be inside jokes, they didn't travel well.
Mike: Whatsa matter? You don't know any Jewish people?
Scott: Actually, I suffer from borism. I don't like boring people.
Mike: I wonder if it is accurate, because I like learning about other cultures, without having to sit through a documentary.
Scott: No movie is ever accurate to the people in the movie. At least not normally, they try to exaggerate certain traits and stereotypes. But not being Jewish, I have no clue; I would just assume that is not the case.
Mike: Huh? Yes it is accurate, no its not?
Scott: I don't think it is, but I can't speak from experience.
Mike: I don't think the outdoing each other part is accurate, but I think maybe the part about the process and finding out what the meaning of the ritual is accurate.
Scott: Anyway...
I am a fan of Jeremy Piven, and have been since Cupid (do you remember that?), he plays the dad, Adam Fiedler
Mike: I think Jeremy is overrated. People keep telling me I will love Entourage, but it didn't jump out and grab me. I think he is good in supporting roles, like on the Larry Sanders show and Ellen, but I don't think he is the next big thing.
Scott: I never said he could carry a show, I like how he can talk fast and be aggressive, and he's good at that.
Mike: It is actually kinda funny that he is playing the same role of a Hollywood Agent in this movie, which is what he plays on Entourage.
Scott: Except in this role, he is more like an Agent-lite. He doesn't have the same snap or gusto as the other role.
Mike: Well thank goodness he's not going to be typecast. Agent-lite? Seriously?
Scott: Didn't you get that feeling? I thought all agents were serious A-holes.
Mike: Let me talk to my agent and get back to you...
I like the rest of the cast as well. I was glad to see Doris Roberts and very glad that she wasn't still doing Raymond's mom.
Scott: When I first saw her I cringed because I thought that was what she was going to do.
Mike: By the way, where has Jamie Gertz been? I think the last movie I saw her in was Twister and that was literally 10 years ago,
Scott: She is on a hit-ish show on CBS, Still Standing.
Mike: Please define "hit", because I have never seen that show. And I am an admitted TV addict.
Scott: It's on opposite other good shows. And I did have an 'ish' in there you know
Mike: You mean opposite good shows, not other good shows, right?
Scott: What did you eat for dinner? Something has settled in the wrong spot for you.
Mike: No, sometimes its fun to pick on you.
Scott: Daryl Sabara plays the Benjamin Fiedler, the boy whose Bar Mitzvah is the center of the movie.
Mike: I kept thinking where do I know that kid from? It's from Spy Kids! I actually enjoyed the first one quite a bit.
Scott: Daryl didn't have a lot to work with on the movie and it showed. He was stiff and intentional in his acting, it didn't look very flowing.
Mike: He seemed like a young teenage nerd, which I think is actually what his character was supposed to be.
Scott: Well Mike, to be clear, he wasn't a teenager until the very end of the movie.
Mike: Ok tweenager, then?
Scott: Sure.
Mike: It was also nice to see Larry Miller and Richard Benjamin in a film. I hate to say it, but they really dug some people up for this movie.
The guy I actually enjoyed was Garry Marshall. Another guy they dug up, who is usually better behind the camera.
Scott: I didn't like Marshall, I thought he was stiff too. I like him behind the camera, in front of it I thought he kept looking for a cue card or something. It reminded me of an SNL skit.
Mike: I think he got carried away with all the Yiddish words thrown in, which made him seem more of a stereotype. But I liked the way he bonded with his grandson in a way that fathers and sons never seem to.
Either way, I'm pretty sure he was in the movie, because it was directed by his son Scott Marshall.
Scott: I don't think directorial skills get passed from father to son, and least not from this example.
Mike: Scott does not seem to have his father's flair for comedy.
Scott: A quick look at the movies Scott has starred in tells me what I need to know, his pa directed all of the ones I saw.
Mike: Well there is something to be said for family.
Scott: Two kids in this movie I want to mention are Carter Jenkins from Surface (a great, but canceled show from last year) and Miranda Cosgrove of School of Rock fame.
Mike: I wondered where I recognized her from. Also, I think you might be in the minority about how great Surface was. I think you were distracted by Lake Bell.
Scott: The special effects were bad, but I liked the conspiracy angle it played. I was hoping Sci-Fi would pick it up, but it doesn't look like it. As far as Bell, what's your point?
Mike: Frankly I wasn't impressed with either Surface or Invasion. Isn't it funny that if they introduce one show with a new theme, they have to introduce two? For instance we can't just have Medium, we have to have Ghost Whisperer too.
Scott: Invasion is bad, I haven't watched Medium and I am afraid I have to admit that I do watch Ghost Whisperer.
Mike: Don't watch Ghost Whisperer, but love Medium. That show has actually let me like Patricia Arquette. I'm not as impressed by the three name girl on Ghost Whisperer as everybody else is.
Also, speaking of digging people up. We forgot to mention Daryl Hannah. She didn't break any new ground as grandpa Irwin Fiedlers much younger girlfriend. But I always like seeing her.
By the way, you have Daryl and Garry Marshall in a pool and you show Garry naked? That's just bad directing!
Scott: Very true, it brought back memories of Terry Bradshaw's backside, and that's not a good memory.
Mike: So Scott what do you rate it? As if I have to ask.
Scott: Yeah, about that...
I was disappointed from beginning to long, tiring end, I give it a 1.5 overall, I did laugh a couple times. I give it a 1 for coming of age movie.
And you?
Mike: I give it a 2.5 overall and a 2.5 for coming of age comedy.
Scott: In the words of commercial I saw recently, 'I don't even know you'.
Mike: Don't feel like you have to Keep Up with the Steins if there is a blockbuster next door you'd rather see.
