When Do We Eat?
Dir. Salvador Litvak
ThinkFilm, 2006
These days, most movies about Jewish families don’t involve flashbacks to Moses and Mt. Sinai. Neither do most feature patriarchs rolling on ecstasy.
When Do We Eat? a new film directed by Salvador Litvak, is not most Jewish movies. This suburban New York comedy takes a refreshingly atypical look at the modern Jewish American family with familiar themes of American Judaism stretched to their natural extremes at the Stuckman family Seder.
Ira Stuckman, a Christmas ornament manufacturer, and the rest of his family are confronted by an array of hot-button issues, including sex work, drug use, Hasidism, and the Holocaust. The Seder features a lesbian daughter with a black partner, cell phones and even the power of Christ. In the midst of the chaos is a matriarch trying to hold everything together, an Israeli with an eye patch, and the proverbial son who does not know how to ask a question – presumably because he is autistic. The desire for the “quickest seder ever” becomes a much longer commitment as Ira Stuckman’s ecstasy-induced hallucinations (courtesy of his son Zeke) compel him to solve everyone’s problems before the meal is served.
While such a film could have easily lapsed into chaos, it is kept together remarkably well by a cast that actually feels comfortable at a Seder table. Veterans Michael Lerner (Ira) and Jack Klugman (Artur) are supported by a stellar ensemble cast. As Zeke, Ben Feldman gives an unusually realistic and hilarious performance, and Shiri Appleby, Max Greenfield, and Meredith Scott Lynn are also standouts as the other Stuckman children (Nikki, Ethan and Jennifer, respectively).
Even while the film resorts to antics more apt for a zoo than a family, it impressively never lets viewers believe that the family’s dysfunction destines them to permanent disrepair. There is an underlying affection and desire to coalesce that transcends the family’s swearing, violence and sexual tension. The Stuckmans’ commitment to each other is felt throughout, making their reconciliation uncharacteristically believable.
Despite the delight of pushing the limits, there are moments when the film goes too far. The dialogue is so full of impetuous comments that it seems as though irreparable damage has been done, or at least more than can be blamed on the ecstasy. On occasion, Litvak throws the viewer into the Stuckmans’ longstanding animosity without giving the necessary background information, especially toward the beginning of the film. But considering the challenge of keeping such a large collection of eclectic individuals fully animated and identifiable, these flaws pale in comparison to the films’ successes.
Due to their similar subject matter, When Do We Eat? may come to be known only as the Jewish version of My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Litvak’s film, though, deserves to be seen in its own light, as an intelligent satire that pushes the limits where they need to be pushed, while being careful of the confines of absurdity.
