IMDb > Keeping Up with the Steins (2006)
Keeping Up with the Steins
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Keeping Up with the Steins (2006) More at IMDbPro »

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Keeping Up with the Steins (2006) -- Lucky is the story of a 13-year-old boy who uses his upcoming bar mitzvah to reconcile the strained relationship between his father and grandfather.
Keeping Up with the Steins (2006) -- US Home Video Extra (Clip) from Miramax
Keeping Up with the Steins (2006) -- US Home Video Trailer from Miramax
Keeping Up with the Steins (2006) -- Lucky is the story of a 13-year-old boy who uses his upcoming bar mitzvah to reconcile the strained relationship between his father and grandfather.
Keeping Up with the Steins (2006) -- Lucky is the story of a 13-year-old boy who uses his upcoming bar mitzvah to reconcile the strained relationship between his father and grandfather.

Overview

User Rating:
5.4/10   1,782 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Up 18% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.
Director:
Writer (WGA):
Mark Zakarin (written by)
Contact:
View company contact information for Keeping Up with the Steins on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
28 December 2006 (Israel) more
Genre:
Tagline:
Something's not quite kosher.
Plot:
A 13-year-old boy uses his upcoming bar mitzvah to reconcile the strained relationship between his father and grandfather. full summary | add synopsis
User Comments:
Maybe Better on the Small Screen? more (34 total)

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)
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Additional Details

Also Known As:
Lucky 13 (USA) (working title)
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MPAA:
Rated PG-13 for some crude language, nudity and brief drug references.
Runtime:
90 min
Country:
Language:
Color:
Aspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Certification:
Australia:PG | USA:PG-13 (No. 41523) | South Korea:12 | Singapore:NC-16 | Canada:PG (Canadian Home Video rating)
Company:

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
The working title for this movie was "Lucky 13." more
Goofs:
Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): In the scene where Zachary is talking to Benjamin at Hebrew school about his fear of reading the Haftorah in front of a crowd, Zachary can be seen mouthing the words Benjamin is saying, "...cool up there at your Bar Mitzvah". more
Quotes:
Rose Fiedler: Shamu is Jewish? more
Movie Connections:
References Metroid Prime (2002) (VG) more
Soundtrack:
Der Glatter Bulgar more

FAQ

Chapter Headings, an unofficial version, v1.00:
more
18 out of 31 people found the following comment useful.
Maybe Better on the Small Screen?, 24 June 2006
4/10
Author: Bob from United States

This is a coming-of-age story with a twist. There is more than one person coming-of-age.

In a nutshell, it is the story of an angst-ridden thirteen year old boy whose troubles are doubled by his pending bar mitzvah.

His father (Jeremy Piven) is a Hollywood agent intent on turning the bar mitzvah into a recruiting event to keep and grow his client base. This is complicated when his former partner, played by Larry Miller, throws a mega bar mitzvah for his own son, with the same intention in mind.

Piven's angst at creating the perfect bar mitzvah/recruitment event is made worse by the arrival of his hippy-like father (Gary Marshall), who is attached to an early 40-something New Ager (Daryl Hannah) and teaching English to children on the Navajo reservation. I guess it's supposed to be funny, just looking at Marshall and Hannah. Marshall's and Piven's characters are estranged, the father having walked out on Piven and his mother (Doris Roberts) 26 years earlier.

We have an angst-ridden triangle between the three men: grandfather, father, and grandson. (The trinity in a Jewish story?) Indeed, the only struggles in the story are between men. The men have no plot difficulties or unresolved issues with the women, or the women with each other. Frankly, there is no way men can have unresolved issues and not emotionally involve the women in their lives. It's just not realistic, not even in a satirical sense.

I gave this film a "4" because of the story. It has a significant flaw. There is just no moment when I felt a human connection with the three men. I was shown all the events that led to the all-important climax, and then I felt nothing. It was like discovering I had swallowed a Chicklet instead of Viagra. No emotion. No "ah ha!" moment. I was more concerned that there wasn't enough butter on my popcorn. And because I felt no emotional connection with or between the three men, I did not feel their catharsis. And that's a real problem for a coming-of-age film. There were a few nice moments between the grandfather and grandson, but that was it.

Not good.

Regardless of what several "mainstream press" critics wrote and to the writer's and director's credit, I didn't see one stereotype. There were a few undeveloped characters, caricatures really, but that, too, is the fault of the storytellers— it's lazy, not malicious.

Why it happened this way, I have no idea. Maybe they were forced to cut the film strangely or leave out things they wanted put in, due to money constraints. It just doesn't work.

The acting was fine, featuring some of the best actors on television today. That made it marginally watchable. Maybe television is where this film should have been sold. I see this as a Starz film. Not quite HBO or Showtime material. IFC or Sundance will be its home in about six months.

I counsel the writer and director to learn from this experience. You have to flesh out your characters more and let us in on their inner struggles. Don't tell us. Show us. That's what makes drama and comedy work, especially on film. Make us as tense as the characters appear because of the conflicts within the situation, and then resolve the audience's and characters' tensions at the same time. To paraphrase Woody Allen, if it's a comedy, make us bend with the character; if it's a drama, make us break.

For example, don't match Richard Benjamin's Bill-O'Reilly-loving rabbi character with Marshall's tolerant grandfather, and do nothing with it. That could have been some very funny stuff as the two men synthesize their worldviews. Instead… pffft. Nothing.

And finally, have a bigger theme— something the audience can sink its teeth into. I'm still not quite sure what it is. (And I won't venture a guess, because I don't want to spoil the ending for anybody.) Go back and watch how Chaplin created and then unknotted tension in "City Lights", how Sam Woods did it in "A Night at the Opera", how Marshall did it in "The Flamingo Kid" (another coming-of-age story), or even how it's done in the simplest episode of Piven's "Entourage". Have somebody check the treatment and script thoroughly for theme, conflict and catharsis. Then try it again.

I don't want this to sound angry or mean-spirited. But the situation within the film was just lousy with potential for a better film. It was all wasted. And that's a shame.

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Message Boards

Discuss this movie with other users on IMDb message board for Keeping Up with the Steins (2006)
Recent Posts (updated daily)User
Jami Gertz, Teri Hatcher look-alike? Saratogalamb
Did you watch through the credits? You should have! clearbluepeace
Chapter Headings, v1.00: annevejb
What's wrong with you people? robertka1
Very Enjoyable movie! mystty530
Should've been about the Steins! goldenstate5
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