Takes One to Appreciate One

It takes someone who knows the New York Jewish culture to make a movie like Prime. Which is to say that it is a really authentic-feeling, -looking and -sounding movie. It starts with Meryl Streep, whose performance as a New York Jewish therapist is completely dead-on and perfect (surprise, surprise). And the writing, by director Ben Younger (who also made Boiler Room, that loud and obnoxious stock trading movie a few years back), is filled not just with the expected gefilte fish and Manischewitz jokes, but with things like a Jewish mother putting red wine in the fridge, overly obsessive Jewish mother-isms like not giving your kids Q-Tips for fear of them being unsafe, the Bubbie — and small, subtle details like a mezuzah on the doorframe.

Simply, I loved this movie. Perhaps it's because I identified with so much of it — though sadly, not with the whole sleeping with Uma Thurman part — but more likely, it's because Prime put a smile on my face and provided so many good laughs.

Prime is not perfect, though. When it slows down, it really slows down. Also, the ending is sort of bad, and that's because there really is no way to end it given the direction the plot takes. But aside from those quibbles, I'll still think positively about Prime. Jon Abrahams gives a funny supporting performance as one of those new-breed urban Jews who wear ghetto Jew t-shirts (i.e.: with logos like "Def Jew" instead of Def Jam), and Bryan Greenberg, while not the most charismatic actor, has the kind of easygoing acting style that makes it all feel so natural. And really, that's the best part of the film, that it does all feel so natural, so real, and so right. Prime gets a B+ from me.