Missing Sammi Cohen’s directorial debut, the Hulu original Crush, last year is forgivable; however, we cannot avoid her sophomore feature, You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah, the recent Netflix #1 film. Rave reviews and co-production from Adam Sandler’s company Happy Madison Productions have put this movie on everyone’s radar, billed as a modern coming-of-age teen comedy. Find out below if it lives up to the hype.
Plot of You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah
Middle-schooler Stacy Friedman wants nothing less than the perfect bat mitzvah to usher in her becoming an adult woman, but naturally, things do not always go as planned. Amid drama with friendships and family, Stacy and her best friend Lydia have to navigate the lead-up to this important rite of passage in the unforgiving world of modern teenagers.
Laughs and Love in This Week’s Biggest Comedy
To put it mildly, Netflix’s massive multi-film deal with actor/producer Adam Sandler has yielded mixed results (July saw the release of the apocalyptically pitiful Adam Devine comedy The Out-Laws). Regardless of your thoughts on the alternatively beloved and hated multi-millionaire comedian, You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah has already received some of the company’s all-time best reviews. Though Sandler stars in a supporting role, another Sandler is catching far more attention in this new feature: his daughter Sunny Sandler, who stars in the lead role as Stacy.
Sunny Sandler’s performance as the 13-year-old still figuring herself out was crucial to the success of You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah, and the casting of family members in this instance surprisingly heightened the chemistry between the characters. Further co-stars include Adam Sandler’s wife, Jackie Sandler, and his other daughter, Sadie Sandler, along with Idina Menzel as his character’s wife in the film, and each of them works well together, given a history of getting along professionally and in real life. Their effortless interactions in performing the dialogue of this book adaptation, most notably Sunny and her best friend (played by Samantha Lorraine), come across with a breezy naturalism that turns obnoxious teens into characters worth following and empathizing with.
Sunny Sandler in ‘You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah’
Warnings and Criticisms for Potential Viewers
Not all is perfect in this updated version of teens growing up, and anyone familiar with and cynical about the plot formulas used here will certainly take issue. Like the rollercoaster of emotions that this period of life ensures, the ups and downs of the film are as patterned and regular as they have been since Judy Blume’s 1970 novel Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. influenced generation after generation of early teens. Coincidentally, these new takes on a girl’s middle school life and many existential crises come out just a few months after a film adaptation of Blume’s immortal story, so the producers of this movie could not have picked a worse time in terms of originality.
A Good Story Well Enough Told
Luckily, reliance on a well-known form never stopped a good movie from shining, and You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah mostly deserves its critical acclaim. The details and specificity of Jewish tradition enhance the conventions for viewers of all walks of life. Stacy’s difficulty balancing a desire for a superficial bat mitzvah and her family’s push towards focusing on the traditional elements of the occasion develop into a meaningful undercurrent that will speak to all willing watchers. Details big and small further illuminate the self-centeredness of the characters, like Stacy’s sister casually running a guy off the road while singing along to car jams or watching a movie on her phone during any social event. Stacy’s character growth ultimately takes the entire film to reach its typical endpoint, but the chuckles and sentiments throughout will only disappoint those already turned off by the central premise.
Far from the best movie of the year and inferior to the aforementioned recent Blume adaptation, You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah is worth the time for those who know they will like it, coming off as a minor modern tale showcased by likable actors. If you are too curmudgeonly to enjoy even this level of harmless entertainment, you already know what you will think of this new streaming original.
You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah is streaming now on Netflix.