Keeping Up With the Steins
Like the tacky and extravagant themed bar mitzvahs it spoofs, "Keeping Up With the Steins" isn't very subtle. It isn't particularly funny, either.It's as if the filmmakers were afraid to offend anyone by making too much fun of Jewish culture and wanted to make something safe and cuddly instead. But the film doesn't quite manage that, even if its dramatic elements work slightly better than its comedic elements. Not that they're particularly memorable, they just come off as less desperate.
Despite the title, the film actually follows the Fiedlers, a well-to-do Southern California family. The youngest member, 13-year-old Benjamin (Daryl Sabara, from the "Spy Kids" movies) is dreading his upcoming bar mitzvah.
That's because his entertainment-agent father (Jeremy Piven) has announced plans to outdo his business rival, Arnie Stein (Larry Miller), who paid for a pricey, "Titanic"-themed celebration for his own son.
So Benjamin invites his long-estranged grandfather, Irwin (Garry Marshall). Knowing his father and grandfather haven't talked in more than a decade, Benjamin is hoping the bickering twosome will ruin the event — or cancel it.
Perhaps the most embarrassing aspect of the film is that director Scott Marshall found an excuse to give his father, Garry, a nude scene.
Piven appears to be experiencing some sort of cinematic deja vu. He's basically reprising the fast-talking agent role he plays on HBO's "Entourage" — as well as in "Cars," another film opening this week.
"Keeping Up With the Steins" is rated PG-13 for crude humor about and references to bodily functions, as well as some innuendo and other suggestive talk, brief male and partial female nudity, scattered use of profanity and some brief drug content (mostly references). Running time: 89 minutes.
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