Suzie Gold

Happened upon this film late one night on the TV, when I might have been a tad pickled. I wasn't expecting too much but I thought I would give it 20 minutes or so before retiring to bed. Before I knew it, I was hooked, I was genuinely interested in what was going to happen to the main characters. Granted, it was riddled with stereotypes and clichés but enjoyable all the same. There was a time when I would never have showed my emotions openly but I cried three times during this film. I found it to be a sympathetic portrayal of the difficulties of living and working in a multicultural society when your parents, their parents and your 'community' expect you to behave in a certain way and to follow a path that does not deviate from the norm. I found redeeming features in all of the characters and although the film poked fun at some of their habits and actions, I thought it was done with affection rather than malice.

I was intrigued by the synopsis and bought the film on video for a £1. It was well worth the spend and my wife and I enjoyed watching it. We have had some exposure to the North London Jewish community, having attended several weddings and various other functions and although we didn't recognise the over-the-top histrionics of Suzie Gold's mother, most of the film was a reasonably accurate portrayal of the milieu. Rebecca Green's script was very good. The treatment of Suzie's on-off- relationship with a non-Jewish boyfriend is apparently superficial but it dealt with a difficult subject generously. Generally, the film pokes glancing fun at the community, such that whilst not holding it up to ridicule, it nevertheless shines light on aspects of Jewish life that non-Jews might find both revealing and interesting. I thought the ending was clichéd and lacked originality - it showed, more than anything else in the film,the weaknesses of the script and direction, but who cares? It was a bit of froth and everyone will recognise the homage paid to other films with greater merit.

The story of a Jewish girl who comes from a conservative family - and wants to brake free. But Not your stereotypical Jewish family - one memorable scene is in which the pushy mother Yells at rebellious son (who "thinks hes black" by Suzan - Golden comments) and start throwing his beloved tapes out the window. After acting totally insane she smiles to a next door neighbor and says "cids ey?" - cracked me up. The mom is superb at being a "caracter". Another scene the rebellious son doesn't want to go to a religious ceremony, because he "dosen't even believe in god" and the mother answers - whats that has to do with it.. ha ha. It's not so "Jewish" film if you can read between the lines you can see an accurate portrayal of hypocrisy within a "riligiose" family - maybe looking OK for the neighbors isn't the most important thing - Everyone have their dirty little secrets - and that's only humane. if you get the humor, you'll enjoy.

First off, I'm not Jewish, but I am British. Several people here have written about how clichéd the characters and situations are in this movie. But remember that this is a comedy and so much comedy relies on cliché and exaggeration for humour. We're meant to see many of these characters are stereotypes and well, I enjoyed it! It made me laugh and entertained me. I think I can understand that if you are Jewish you might not like the idea of such caricatures as being given exposure, but lighten up - we know that what we're watching isn't meant to be a documentary on one section of our society.

This is just one of several comedy films centred around so-called 'communities' to appear from the UK in recent years. Previous film offerings such as 'East is East', 'Bend It Like Beckham', 'Anita and Me' and TV series like 'The Kumars' all rely on stereotypes for humour but have focused on the Asian community. I think (I hope) it is a sign of a healthy society that we can laugh together with entertainment like this.

This is quite an entertaining little film, very much in the vein of 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding'. Like that hit movie, it deals with family and cultural expectations when it comes to marriage. Summer Phoenix stars as Suzie Gold, a true romantic who wants to marry for love rather than prestige.

I laughed a lot at the start of the film. A fine ensemble cast includes Miriam Karlin, Frances Barber and Stanley Townsend.

What lets the film down, in my opinion, is the total lack of chemistry between Ms Phoenix and Leo Gregory as Darren, the love of Suzie's life. You just don't believe that these two are crazy about each other which is a shame as it's otherwise quite fun.