At The Movies
l'er litiltlesitt(A'i 9
The Family Man'
Two nice Jewish boys pen a Christmas movie.
22812 woodw
NAOMI PFEFFERMAN
THE GALLERY RESTAURANT
Enjoy gracious dining amid a beautiful
atmosphere of casual elegance
I
4 1
BREAKFAST LUNCH DINNER
OPEN 7 DAYS: MON.- SAT. 7 a.m.- 9:30 p.m. SUN. 8 a.m.- 9 p.m.
West Bloomfield Plaza • 6638 Telegraph Road and Maple • 248-851-0313
(L
carcoDa
viottexs
vac -r**413' _
r
Open
DeC. 24th
until 8 pm
dosed Dec. 25
Kids
at for
AV I SP 41C.
4, 0
cer 3,0c ,
Orn
TUESDAY-THURSDAY • DEC. 26-28 • AFTER 3:00 P.M.
20c3 /o OFF
ENTIRE FOOD BILL.
Valid with coupon only
• 1 coupon per couple • Not valid with any other discount
L
• Excludes dinner for two • Dine in only • Expires 12/28/00
Newly Remodeled
/UMW FAMILY RESTAURANT
29221 NORTHWESTERN HWY. (Corner of 12 Mile Rd.)
Southfield • E24133 358 -easp
music reviews
°Jill Entertainment.
CA& the best
12/22
2000
78
The writers' Philadelphia upbringing
was
distinctly Jewish. Diamond grew
Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles
up kosher and Sabbath-observant and
was often drafted to help make up his
he Family Man, by David
father's Orthodox minyan.
Diamond and David
Weissman is the son of a German
Weissman, has raised an
refugee, a general manager for the
eyebrow or two among the
State of Israel Bonds whose parents
screenwriters' Jewish friends. How did
nother,
died in Treblinka. Weis
two nice Jewish boys who met at
meanwhile,
Third-genera-
Jewish day school end up
Screenw riters
tion sabra whose father head-
writing one of the biggest
Christmas movies of the year? David D iamond ed the Carn-_ el wine compa-
and Da vid
ny and was mayor of Zikron
The Family Man concerns
Weissma n on
Yakov.
Jack (Nicolas Cage), a high-
the set of "The
Given the writers' back-
powered, high-living Wall
Man."
Family
ground,
it's no wonder The
Street bachelor who wakes up
Family Man, their first pro-
one Christmas morning to
duced studio feature, sports a Jewish
find himself transformed into a sub-
value or two. There is the concept of
urban dad. He's married to his college
teshuvah (repentance) and of yetzer
sweetheart (Tea Leoni), works at a
hatov and yetzer harah, the good and
tire store and is living (gasp) in New
bad inclinations symbolized by the
Jersey.
character of Jack. You could say that
Yuletide-y billboards for the film
the hero spars with a mysterious, oth-
happen to flank Diamond's modern
erworldly character the way the bibli-
Orthodox shul, B'nai David-Judea
cal Joseph spars with the angel.
Congregation, in Pico-Robertson,
Diamond likes the suggestion.
Calif.
"That is a very nice Brash," he quips.
But while the movie is set at
The Family Man, Weissman adds, "is
Christmastime, it's not about
also a redemption story, a second-
Christmas, the authors insist.
chance story. And that is the epitome
"Christmas is the time of year that
of the Jewish experience."
people in the larger population tend
The film is also about paths taken
to reflect on their lives and choices,
and not taken, a theme that resonates
and that's what the movie is about,"
for the screenwriters. When both were
Diamond says from his office, where
class clowns at Akiba Hebrew
siddurim share a shelf with 26 drafts
Academy in Philadelphia, they
of The Family Man.
T