Suzie Gold

This is the tale of Suzie Gold, a 20 something Jewish girl in North London. The film takes place in the months leading up to her sister's wedding to a nice Jewish boy. Her family are semi-orthodox, but have traditional views as far as marrying out of the faith. Suzie falls for a non-Jewish guy called Darren. However she cannot introduce Darren to her family because of their perceived attitude.

I and my partner are both Jewish. When we saw the film at the local cinema I suspect that most of the audience were Jewish. Having said that, I thoroughly enjoyed the film, but my girlfriend hated it thinking it was too stereotypical. To me the film reminded me a little of the excellent TV play The Barmitzvah Boy, and it had a stronger and more believable story than the other Jewish film of recent years, Leon The Pig Farmer.

I thought Summer Phoenix put in a very convincing performance as Suzie Gold - her North London accent was good enough to fool me, and the film was very entertaining.

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.

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.

_Suzie Gold_ takes the first act from _Fiddler on the Roof_, stirs in a little _Pride and Prejudice_, and tries to update this blend for 2004. While the Jewish traditions, and anxieties, have survived intact into the new millennium, the chief innovation for the young seems to be four-letter words. And while the plot revolves around the dilemma of "marrying out" (outside of the Jewish faith), it isn't clear why any of these nice Jewish girls should care about marriage, since they all are ready to sleep with their boyfriends, whether likable or not. This ribald caricature will prevent this film from matching the wide popularity of _Greek Wedding_, which is too bad.

If you can overlook these contradictions, the portrayals are charming, the ladies handsome, and the ancient faith is shown to be alive and well. Mom, Dad, and Grandma all come through for the perplexed little Suzie, although she does what she wants instead of what they would think she ought. Suzie's father is such a warm and wise fellow, that he could singlehandedly carry the story, and he indeed must ultimately make the right call for his little girl. The film is entertaining, but not because anything is really resolved in the end (and the plot is as old as storytelling itself), but rather because the people and events are fun to watch, and a few are worth emulating.

This is very much a smilar story to 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding', but nevertheless was very fun to watch. There was great chemistry between the actors and even though it was very funny I have to say I do prefer 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding'. That is just a classic!

It revolves aroung a young Jewish girl who, like 'Toula Portakalos', wants to marry for love. It will have you laughing, I have to say, and I think us brits have done a good job in making the film. It is almost as good.

This will have many nominations for awards in my opinion, but the letdown was actually the lack of chemistry between the two main actors, but all in all, very enjoyable. :)