Keeping Up With the Steins

The feature-directing debut of Scott Marshall, Keeping Up With the Steins mines the My Big Fat Greek Wedding vein of supposedly warm ethnic humor, only with a Jewish accent, replacing the marriage ceremony with a bar mitzvah (but the celebration once again proves pretty much insufferable). The centerpiece of the plot finds a Hollywood agent (Jeremy Piven) planning an extravagant party for his son, without noticing the kid's wariness about the whole affair (especially since the youngster hasn't mastered the necessary chants or come to any real understanding of the ritual through the family's aloof rabbi). In an attempt to deflect his father's attention from the arrangements, the boy sends an invitation to his paternal grandfather (played by the filmmaker's father, Garry Marshall), who abandoned the family many years before, so when grandpa shows up—a gregarious aging hippie with a much younger wife—the family fireworks commence until the eventual reconciliation. Keeping Up with the Steins is the purest corn, played without restraint: Marshall goes full-throttle as granddad, even doing a nude scene that provides the sort of harmless naughtiness old ladies will giggle over in mock embarrassment, while Piven is utterly obnoxious. Bar mitzvah or not, this is an awfully juvenile movie. Not recommended. [Note: DVD extras include two audio commentaries (one by director Scott Marshall and writer/producer Mark Zakarin; the other by Marshall and his father/costar Garry Marshall), six deleted scenes (8 min.), an eight-minute behind-the-scenes featurette, and trailers. Bottom line: a solid extras package for a disappointing comedy.] (F. Swietek)