Unstrung Heroes

"Unstrung Heroes" is incontrovertible evidence that Diane Keaton is a great director. It focuses on Steven Lidz, a Jewish boy in the early 1960's whose happy life is upset when his mother Selma (Andie MacDowell) is diagnosed with cancer. Unable to bear it, he moves in with his blacklisted uncles, Danny (Michael Richards) and Arthur (Maury Chaykin). They teach Steven about his Jewish heritage, and by the end of the movie, he has had his bar mitzvah and feels freer in his existence.

Some of the plot points may seem a little hackneyed, but Diane Keaton knows how to tell the story so that it isn't a cliché. A very good look at how the general atmosphere and zeitgeist in a certain part of American history affected one family.