Alright, so I don't think that any one would make the argument for this being a great movie. Honestly I've never been much of a Seth Rogen fan and never understood how he achieved the success he has. All this being said, this just may be his best film to date, for whatever that's worth. On the surface this seems like a heart warming story about the importance of family, yet I cannot help but feel there is a little something more. Rogen is an admitted secularist. I felt like he was asking the question, "how do you honor your Jewish heritage and traditions while simultaneously acknowledging the fact that there is no god?". So for me, the deeper part was how do you deal with your heritable identity when it is so closely related to religion. To this I have no answer. In the end, I felt like the character, Ben, just begrudging gave in to his peoples' traditions and rituals as being just that, "traditions and rituals" rather than dwell on religious implications. There are no easy answers for the modern man trying to reconcile with ancient ideals of identity. Another aspect of this movie that I found interesting is how people who lived through more challenging life situations tend to have more strength of character and perseverance when life throws them a curve ball as opposed to those who grew up in the current cushy environment that your average American youth enjoy.
Review by skbondBlockedParent2020-09-26T04:48:18Z— updated 2021-07-09T20:40:05Z
Alright, so I don't think that any one would make the argument for this being a great movie. Honestly I've never been much of a Seth Rogen fan and never understood how he achieved the success he has. All this being said, this just may be his best film to date, for whatever that's worth. On the surface this seems like a heart warming story about the importance of family, yet I cannot help but feel there is a little something more. Rogen is an admitted secularist. I felt like he was asking the question, "how do you honor your Jewish heritage and traditions while simultaneously acknowledging the fact that there is no god?". So for me, the deeper part was how do you deal with your heritable identity when it is so closely related to religion. To this I have no answer. In the end, I felt like the character, Ben, just begrudging gave in to his peoples' traditions and rituals as being just that, "traditions and rituals" rather than dwell on religious implications. There are no easy answers for the modern man trying to reconcile with ancient ideals of identity.
Another aspect of this movie that I found interesting is how people who lived through more challenging life situations tend to have more strength of character and perseverance when life throws them a curve ball as opposed to those who grew up in the current cushy environment that your average American youth enjoy.