This politically incorrect film has chutzpah. It's a coming-of-age story that features over-the-top Orthodox Jewish stereotypes with plenty for people to be offended about. The film is both funny and touching, the pace was quick, the humor kept coming, the music was upbeat and ironic, and the acting, overdone to perfection.
Mordechai Wolkenbruch, Motti, (played radiantly and nebbishly by Joel Basman), is trying to find his way in life, but his overbearing mother, (Inge Maux), has one thing on her mind: to marry Motti off to a nice Orthodox Jewish woman. She set him up on ten arranged dates through the Shidduch process, which proves to be disappointing and infuriating to Motti.
In a college class, Motti meets a beautiful, lively shiksa, (a non-Jew), called Laura who boldly pursues Motti, which puts him in stark conflict with the wishes of his mother. In order to set him on the right path, the family rabbi recommends a trip to Israel so that Mordachei might meet a woman to fall in love with there, but that trip does not have the intended outcome. While in Israel, Motti stays with some people who are part of a new age Om Shalom cult -- these scenes are some of the best in the film.
The characters are comedically exaggerated. Sunnyi Melles plays wealthy, terminally ill business client, Mrs. Silberzweig, who reads Motti's Tarot cards in an amusing tragic-comedic way. It is a wonderful cast.
When the Yiddish version of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah played, I thought I would plotz.
I saw this on Netflix. I recommend watching it with subtitles rather than overdubbing if you're not a German speaker.
