Cupcakes

Six lonely people find fulfillment thanks to an international song fest in Paris. Six lonely, comfortable middle class Israeli--5 woman and a gay man--are yearning for meaning in life.A commonplace them in film, to say the least. There's enough sugar to give us diabetes, Yet, as a comedy it sends up a smugness in today's Israel: complacent, empty with creature comforts that don't much to assuage existential angst nor ennui. Cupcakes blankets today's Israeli reality of inflation, tight housing, endless war against Palestinians, yet gay tolerant and colorblind. The music is a saving grace as the narrative is hiccuped along with past winners of Eurovision songs. The Israeli entry is a mirror reflection of an illness of the country's soul that tries to put an emoji on a sad reality.

This film tells the story of a cheerful and flamboyant man who signs his female best friends up for an international song contest, without their knowledge.

"Cupcakes" is a fun and bubbly film that makes viewers laugh. The way the lead character's relationship as to be hidden is a stark contrast to their personalities, which makes it interesting. The female best friends are fun as well, especially the politician who decides to risk it and take part in the song contest. The rehearsals are fun to watch, and of course the finale - the contest is great as well. The scene where the parents offer a deal with the couple provides an emotional subplot to balance all the general cheerfulness, but fortunately the deal is not so bad that would make it offensive or too difficult for the couple to choose. After all, Israel is a progressive country!

Mixed feelings about this Israeli whimsical farce. On the one hand, the movie can be a warm hearted feel-good flick. Yet, on the other hand it can be filled with contrivances and stereotypes, that will be accepted by some viewers while others might be turned off. For me, I thought the best way to enjoy this film was to just go with the farcical flow of it all and not be too judgmental.

The story centers on a group of neighbors and friends, who have gathered together, in Tel Aviv, to watch the glitz and kitsch of the annual UniverSong international competition. When the group recognizes the sadness of one of their members, Anat (Anat Waxman), they break out into song to try and cheer her up, led by the one professional singer there Efrat (Efrat Dor). The impromptu song is recorded on a cell phone, and ends up being sent to the Israeli committee, who really like it and want the mostly amateur group to represent them at the following year's competition of UniverSong. Of course, they'll be plenty of "bumps along the road" and lessons to be learned as the group strives to make the Paris competition.

In summary, I thought all the ensemble cast members performed their roles well in this film, directed by Eytan Fox, who co-wrote the script with Eli Bijaoui. Not everything works here, and as mentioned there's contrivances and stereotypes, but just going with the flow I was able to find it in the end to be a feel-good experience.

When the cast 'finally' do the song at the very end, it made me even more irritated at the whole thing, they sounded beautiful together, and only did one lousy song.

The rest of the movie was involving itself with acceptance on various issues, I guess the song was supposed to be something that makes all of us feel good about alternative lifestyles snd different ways of thinking, BUT I was watching the movie for real music and singing, it did not deliver on this.

A whole movie and one song, U would think they would have gone through the effort to do a couple more

A real waste of real talent and frustrating for someone looking for a real musical movie