A Film by: Christopher Grimm
(USA, 2008, Color, English, English subtitles, cast: Adam Pascal, Amy Davidson, Natasha Lyonne, Tovah Feldshuh)
Former boy-band icon Bobby Star is clinging to days gone by. Desperate and unemployed, he begs his agent Murray to land him a decent gig. But beggars can't be choosers, and Murray finds a weeklong job for Bobby at the grand opening of the world's first glatt kosher hotel-casino, the Mazel Hotel. So what does a blond gentile has-been pop sensation have in common with this Jewish orthodox world?
The answer becomes clear when we discover the hotel owner's daughter, Rebecca who has had a huge secret crush on Bobby Star ever since childhood though she is about to be married off to the son of a powerful Kabbalah rabbi, and the janitor Ty, an African-American hip-hop whiz who teaches Bobby a thing or two about Jewish soul.
The ultra-orthodox American-Jewish world is alive and kicking. But how does it cope with modern times? This age-old question is dealt with in the entertaining musical comedy before us.
Bobby's TV goes dark at sundown on Friday; his beloved cell-phone is confiscated during the Sabbath; his Grey Goose vodka is replaced with Manischewitz; and "kosher enforcers" are on the lookout for "treyf smugglers."
AWARDS, FESTIVALS & SCREENINGS
• Long Island Film Festival - Best Picture Award & Best Director Award
• Sid Jacobson Jewish Film Festival
• Jerusalem Jewish Film Festival
