By Kyle Flynn

I wandered into my local independent theater to see what was playing recently. It’s rare that any theater in the Greater Orlando area would be playing a film I am not familiar with, but at the Enzian, a film named Bad Shabbos was playing. After a quick Google, seeing that the rapper Method Man was in the cast, and that it won the Audience Prize at the 2024 Tribeca Film Festival, I decided this would be a good use of time and bought a ticket for the evening showing.

The film revolves around a recently engaged interfaith couple that is getting ready to have their families meet for the first time, when an accidental death (manslaughter) occurs. The hijinks and comedy move through the story, as the family tries to solve how they can fix the situation they find themselves in. 

Thankfully, the most important aspect to me with any type of major ensemble piece is that they are all on the same page, and this movie works because the ensemble fully understands the assignment. Jon Bass and Meghan Leathers both hold down the movie pretty well as the central couple, and Theo Taplitz and Method Man provide a lot of great comedy relief to the rest of the film. 

None of it would work if not for the screenplay from Zack Weiner and Daniel Robbins, which is witty, sharp, and surprisingly tight. Robbins also directs, and you immediately learn how to take in the story at the pace it is going; every shot is framed very carefully, and the story managed to keep me on my toes. 

I was surprised by how well it worked and how much I took from it. It really impressed me with its form by managing to be an entertaining comedy while working under the story constraints of mostly taking place in one apartment. My audience appeared to be primarily older, and it was a surprisingly packed audience for a weekday night, but laughter filled the room.

This is a strong recommendation from me, one of the better comedies I watched this year, and currently in my Top Ten Films of 2025 as we are quickly approaching the halfway point. I certainly was not expecting much going in,but I came out a fan of Daniel Robbins.

4 stars