Some comments on this film have been unfair, I think. It is not simply a transposition of the Big Fat Greek Wedding plot to Jewish London, although there are considerable similarities. There was a greater seriousness in elements such as the heroine's relationship with her grandmother, her feelings about the heavily traditional Jewish culture in which she has grown up, and her attempt to fit in with cultural expectations of her, reaching the point of what has to be one of the crassest ways to propose (by the "wrong man") ever shown on film.
In some ways it had more in common with Kissing Jessica Stein, but I cared a lot more about the characters in that, I have to say. I could not warm to the non-Jewish boyfriend, and many of the characters did not really come alive, though the repeatedly volcanic mother and the understated but ultimately forceful father were well played. Summer Phoenix certainly did a good job of playing the heroine, sounding as much of a Londoner as any of them.
In some ways it had more in common with Kissing Jessica Stein, but I cared a lot more about the characters in that, I have to say. I could not warm to the non-Jewish boyfriend, and many of the characters did not really come alive, though the repeatedly volcanic mother and the understated but ultimately forceful father were well played. Summer Phoenix certainly did a good job of playing the heroine, sounding as much of a Londoner as any of them.