Review of Keeping Up with the Steins (2006) by Punda G — 26 Jun 2007

Depending on your point of view, this is either a simple, safe, sitcom-stereotypical family comedy or a passive-aggressive, inadvertantly anti-Semitic come-laugh-at-the-Jews cartoon. Either way, it ain't kosher.

(Oy!) Don't let the box art fool you; the prominently featured (and always reliable) Larry Miller doesn't play a very large role in the story, and Jeremy Piven, an actor of considerable charisma with the right material, carries the burden of making the mawkish plot palatable.

Unfortunately, he can't, as the movie employs every cultural stereotype since Shylock demanded his pound of flesh. The difference is -- get ready for it! -- that these cliches are used in the service of comedy! Well, sonuvabitch, what a concept.

That's not to say "Keeping Up" is totally devoid of charm; there are a few chuckles to be found amid the pandering. But the movie's saving grace is a career-best performance by Garry Marshall (granted, that isn't saying much) as the erstwhile patriarch-turned-hippie.

Marshall manages to take a one-dimensional character and transform him into something that transcends the movie's cardboard ideas; he exudes real warmth, instead of pinning that obligatory heart to his sleeve.