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The premise: An engaged interfaith couple are about to have their parents meet for the first time over a Shabbat dinner when an accidental death gets in the way.

A situation many of us have found ourselves, so does this pesky little death get in the way of a special event?

I knew nothing about this film, my wife saw the listing and we made a date. I married into a Jewish family so learning the culture and practices is something that I too, am slowly absorbing.

The only names in the cast I recognized were Kyra Sedgwick and David Paymer, but the entire cast was terrific. I am tempted to say that Cliff “Method Man” Smith playing Jordan, the ever-so-helpful doorman, stole nearly every scene he was in – that’s how good the cast was.

Directed by Daniel Robbins and written by Robbins and Zack Weiner, this film is a comedy bordering on being a farce. There is a terrific energy in the film that moves it along, almost too fast for the laughs to catch up. I thought of the Coen Brothers and Wes Anderson comedies watching this film. Robbins isn’t copying their styles, but makes use of comedic similarities in camera movement, editing and use of droll character remarks to punctuate the end of a scene.

If there is a shortcoming, the characters come off as less than realistic, exaggerated and played for laughs. However, there is a lot of realness in the subtext about religion, relationships and family dynamics, which viewers don’t have to look very deep to find.

What I appreciated about this film, aside from the humor, is the smallness of the film: essentially a New York apartment where nine people come together for a dinner, a gathering of new, old, blended and terminating relationships celebrating a holiday full of cultural traditions and one unexpected demise. Most of us can relate to dinner gatherings where new people are brought into a family, where traditions are shared and explained, while the awkwardness and newness must be worked through.

I am not giving much away about the plot or the setup, encouraging everyone to see this film. Small films like this fly under the radar, playing in art houses and independent theaters, and hopefully finding life on the streaming platforms.

Robbins has directed both feature and documentary films, with Pledge (2018) and Citizen Weiner (2024) being his most recent before Bad Shabbos.

This film currently has a 88% Tomatometer score and 87% Popcornmeter score at Rottentomatoes.com.

My score is 4.25/5

Note: Shabbas or Shabbos. A day of rest at the end of every week that is intended to provide space and time without work in which the observer can find meaning and joy. Celebrated a week! Shabbat lasts 25 hours – from just before sundown on Friday until an hour after sundown on Saturday evening. Shabbat begins with the lighting of candles and if you’re having a Shabbat dinner, blessings over wine and bread, to mark the separation of time from the week that is coming to an end. People celebrate Shabbat in lots of different ways. Some people don’t spend money, some turn off their phone over dinner, others go to synagogue services, and some observe strict rules regarding studying Torah, not using technology, or even tearing paper towels and toilet paper. – 18doors.org