er 5 Arts & Entertainment Grand Re-Opening of 0 , farrilq restaurant •Ask about our 60+ Club •Serving fresh seafood daily Wildlife Crisis Breakfast Specials 7 days a week New Hours: Sunday Thursday: 7 9 • Friday & Saturday: 7 10 29221 Northwestern Hwy. • Southfield, MI 48034 248-358-2353 - - Actor Peter Riegert identifies with "bad Jews" in directorial debut. - 989400 MICHAEL FOX Special to the Jewish News "Blue Ginger fratures the best of Malaysia, Vietnam & Japan." Danny Raskin, November 26, 2004 T BLUE GINGER Vietnamese l Japanese Malaysian Try our authentic Bubble Tea (our specialty) Loxv-Carb I Low-Calorie Fresh Shrimp Roll $5.95 I Lunch Entree includes Miso Soup $5.95 I 2 Sushi-Roll Special (California & Cucumber Rolls) 6635 Orchard Lake Rd. Tues-Thurs 11-10 Fri-Sat 11-11 Sun 12-9 (in Old Orchard Mall) 248.737.7918 9 - • I:B:1- •'1:•: • I:•:1 Dinner for Two ETHIOPIAN FEAST VEGETARIAN FEAST $ 30.00 $ 25.00 he genial actor Peter Riegert, who adds feature-film director to his resume with the empa- thetic and rewarding comedy King of the Corner, was in Buffalo doing what directors do. That is, fielding comments from strangers after a screening . "Somebody who was obviously Jewish raised a question about how peo- ple who weren't Jewish would interpret — or misinterpret — what a bad Jew was," Riegert recalls. Cause for possible concern lies partly in the film's source material, a volume of short fiction by Gerald Shapiro provoca- tively titled Bad Jews and Other Stories (Bison Book). But the major instigation is Leo Spivak, the central character played by Riegert himself A jaded marketing exec blindsided by a belated midlife crisis, unsure of who he is or what he wants, Leo responds with some squirrelly (and very funny) behavior that is inconsistent with various tenets of Jewish law. 'A group of four people stood up," Riegert continues, "and said, 'Well, we're Irish Catholic, and we don't think you're going to have any problem,' because they thought of themselves as bad Catholics." So much for creating worrisome stereotypes or, for that matter, doubting the universality of lapsed faith. King of the Corner opens Friday, June 24, at the Landmark Maple Art Theatre in Bloomfield Township. As he has in select other cities, Riegert will appear at opening-weekend screenings. Behind The Camera The actor, who won over audiences in Animal House, Local Hero and Crossing Delancey — the latter as Amy Irving's pickle-peddling mentsh of a suitor — made his debut behind the camera with the Oscar-nominated short By Courier. He accepted an invitation to show the film in Lincoln, Neb., and while in town he received an envelope from Shapiro. The author, a university litera- ture professor whose depiction of lusty and deeply flawed Jewish men evokes comparison with the late, great Stanley `Bad' Jew, Good Film offer expires July 31st, 2005 - with coupon 545 West 9 Mile • Ferndale • 248-547-6699 221 E. Washington Rd. • Ann Arbor • 734-998-4746 "Corner" finds comic, profound meaning in ordinary lives. Open for Dinner Only • Hours -Sun 3-9, Mon-Thurs 5-9, Fri-Sat 4-11 959460 it Kil:":10 'NUR 1'ic1m1x1talr-:soc-:p24 : ":1 MICHAEL FOX Special to the Jewish News DR. MICHAEL GRAY INTRODUCES... Reduce Cellulite Now! 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Like a lot of men in their 50s, he's good at his job, makes a decent living and has a lovely, stable family. And like plenty of middle- aged guys, he's vaguely dissat- isfied in a way that he can't rec- ognize, let alone articulate. King of the Corner, a gentle and gener- ous comedy directed by and starring Peter Riegert (Crossing Delancey), follows Leo as his cork gets tighter and tighter. When it finally pops, at an unexpected moment and in an unforeseen way, the results are both hilarious and profound. This is precisely the kind of low-key but satisfying movie that adults lament (with good cause) and nobody makes anymore. It's likely that it won't play for weeks and weeks, so don't delay. Riegert's directorial debut mirrors his own screen persona, which is to say it's unpretentious, self-deprecating and uncommonly decent. That last is the most remarkable, given how deeply flawed most of the male characters are. Based on Gerald Shapiro's Bad Jews and Other Stories, which Riegert adapted with the author, King of the Corner centers on a marketing executive with focus- group expertise who's starting to find his work banal and crass. His teenage daughter is becoming a bit of a problem child, and his wife, Rachel (Isabella Rosselini), wants him to lay down the law with her. Leo's main concern, though, is his elderly father in Arizona, whom he jets out to see every other weekend. Sol (Eli Wallach) is a curmudgeon of a high order, full of complaints and