Looking for a fun way to celebrate the unofficial beginning of summer? A howlingly funny film about a Jewish family opens in New York City on Friday.
Directed by Daniel Robbins, “Bad Shabbos” takes place entirely over the course of one Friday evening, as a Jewish family gathers for a Shabbat meal at their parents’ Upper West Side apartment. When tragedy strikes after a prank gone wrong, the entire brood — including daughter Abby, played by former AT&T girl Milana Vayntrub, and IDF-obsessed son Adam (Theo Taplitz), with some help from a kindly doorman, played by Cliff “Method Man” Smith — band together to try to protect themselves in hilarious and sometimes morally dubious ways.
Ellen, the family matriarch, is played by Kyra Sedgwick, who is herself a Jewish mom of two. A fourth-generation New Yorker, Sedgwick, whose mother is Jewish, has graced our movie and TV screens for decades, most memorably for many as Detective Brenda Leigh Johnson in “The Closer.” More recently, Sedgwick, 59, has been bringing joy to the internet with her social media videos of llama-themed song covers and chaotic recipes that often feature her husband, actor Kevin Bacon.
Ahead of the theatrical release of “Bad Shabbos” at Quad Cinema (34 West 13th St.) on Friday, the New York Jewish Week spoke to Sedgwick about her love of Jewish food and what it was like to film on location in New York City.
This interview has been lightly condensed and edited.
You were filming the movie in what is kind of your own “stomping grounds,” right?
Exactly! I live here. It’s very specific to the Upper West Side — the whole movie, in a great way.
You’re a longtime New Yorker. Do you have a go-to deli in the city?
Barney Greengrass. That’s it. I mean, my grandmother went there, I used to go there since I was little. I’m a fourth-generation New Yorker.
I love that! What’s your bagel order?
Well, I like pumpernickel and Nova and cream cheese — regular.
I love the Jewish ritual objects and the challah and the food in this film. What are some of your favorite Jewish foods?
I love challah. I have to say that brisket — when it’s done well, and it’s really hard to do well — it’s out of this freaking world. I love a lot of the stuff that’s in Passover. I love smoked salmon. I love bagels. Yeah, so funny, because the other day, Daniel [Robbins] was talking about Barney Greengrass and, like, how this guy has been invited to all these famous people’s weddings and bar mitzvahs and stuff like that. And I said, ‘What do you think that’s about?’ And he goes, “The P of the B.” And I was like, “What the hell does that mean?” He goes, “The power of the bagel.” I mean, how amazing is that?!
Jewish humor — finding laughter in darkness — is at the center of this movie, and in many ways, at the center of Jewish identity. What do you make of this?
All great humor comes from pain. And there’s a lot of pain in this story. I think our director Daniel, and co-writer Zack [Weiner], did such an extraordinary job … I have never seen anything like it. I really haven’t, so I’m really hoping that people will go see it in the theaters, you know, and take your friends and take your family. I also think that Jewish people need to laugh right now, more than anything.
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