Arts & Entertainment
'David & Layla'
Rife with lowbrow humor and cliche, Jewish-Muslim
romantic comedy manages to give off some light.
Michael Fox
Special to the Jewish News
W
ith an interfaith romance
between a Brooklyn Jew and a
Kurdish Muslim — and what
most would agree is an implausible plot
— the indie film comedy David & Layla
informs us at the outset that it's inspired
by actual events. Against all odds, it hopes
to seduce its viewers with a steady assault
of good will, bad jokes, goofy charm and
buoyant music into buying a love affair.
Writer-director Jalal "Jay" Jonroy, a
Kurdish expatriate who's lived in New York
for more than a decade, populates his fea-
ture debut with characters who embody a
post-9-11 "we're-not-extremists" philoso-
phy. His movie aims to dissolve the gulf
between the lover's families by first expos-
ing each side's foibles and prejudices, then
emphasizing their generosity and love.
In other words, the movie has some-
thing to offend everyone (including explic-
it language about sex) — while trying to
captivate everyone as well. By the time
the film climaxes with a grand wedding
party and hug fest, viewers — depending
on their predisposition — will either be
appalled or entranced.
David Fine (played by David Moscow)
hosts a show called Sex & Happiness on
public-access cable, which essentially
allows him to stick a microphone in the
faces of attractive strangers. He's in no
hurry to get hitched to his buxom Jewish
girlfriend, Abby (Callie Thorne) — per-
haps her overbearing and selfish personal-
ity have something to do with it.
David's whiny and borderline grotesque
parents (Peter Van Wagner and Polly
Adams) naturally want him to settle down
and start a family. Jonroy's depiction of
New York Jews is overly broad and what
many would deem stereotypical, but frank-
ly not much different from stereotypes
propagated by some Jewish directors (the
film When Do We Eat? comes to mind).
David, in fact, has nothing but sex on
his mind, so when he sees the tall, viva-
cious Layla (Shiva Rose, the real-life wife of
actor Dylan McDermott) on the street one
day and runs into her again and again, he
becomes lustfully obsessed. David's French
cameraman and his shrink offer some tips,
which he uses to clumsily finagle his way
Layla, a Muslim Kurdish refugee from Iraq played by
Shiva Rose, meets her Jewish boyfriend's parents,
played by Peter Van Wagner and Polly Adams.
into her life.
It turns out this knockout is also
attracted to David, which seems unlikely
since there's nothing special about him.
Sure, love often works that way, but their
relationship makes more sense if you see
David as an appealingly funny guy rather
than a not-very-hunky leading man.
Layla is a Kurdish refugee from Iraq,
living with her uncle on an expired artist's
visa. For some viewers, it may be easier to
accept her dating a Jew than if she were
Palestinian, or, for that matter, a Shiite or
a Sunni.
Her family may criticize Israel's treat-
ment of the Palestinians, and they may not
like Jews, but there is some wiggle room.
Layla's identity also allows Jonroy
— whose brother and brother-in-law were
victims of ethnic strife in Iraq several
years ago — to briefly spotlight the suffer-
ing of his people with archival footage of
Kurds gassed by Saddam.
To his credit, David & Layla evokes genu-
ine horror without permanently derailing
the film's screwball tone. Likewise, the com-
edy and flirtatiousness never become so
silly that we forget the real-world ramifica-
tions of the couple's interfaith relationship.
The stakes change when Layla refuses to
marry David unless he becomes Muslim
(the Koran states that a Muslim woman
cannot marry a man who is not Muslim,
though a Muslim man is permitted to
marry a Christian or a Jew). He "converts"
but continues to wear his Star of David,
assuring himself he is "still Jewish on the
inside" and clandestinely steps on a glass
at their wedding to his mother's whispered
"mazel tov." (In a postscript, the couple's
child is shown reciting the Four Questions
at a seder at David's parents' home.)
While wondering what to make of David's
"conversion',' the splendid soundtrack of up-
tempo Middle Eastern and klezmer music
may lighten the mood for some viewers and
remind us that this aims to be a story of love
triumphing over all.
By the end, it may not take a huge leap
to imagine a Jew and a Muslim together.
In New York, that is. P1
David & Layla opens Friday, July
20, at the Maple Art Theatre in
Bloomfield Township.
WS
vla Nate Bloom
Special to the Jewish News
Long Career
The hatchet-like face of character
actor Charles Lane is vaguely famil-
iar to anyone over 30. He played
hundreds of small movie and TV
roles in a career that lasted 1928-
1995. He died on July 9, at age 102.
Lane almost always played crabby
guys – in everything from Hollywood
classics like Mr. Smith Goes to
Washington to a dozen or so I Love
Lucy episodes. He also was a found-
er of the Screen Actors Guild; the
guild feted him at its 2005 awards
ceremony.
Lane was born Charles Levison
in San Francisco in 1905. He was
related, by marriage or blood, to
almost all of the famous German
Jewish mercantile families who set-
tled in San Francisco not long after
the 1849 Gold Rush (including Levi
Strauss). His parents, with Charles
in their arms, fled the great 1906
earthquake and fire on a tugboat
that took them to the suburbs.
38
July 19 • 2007
The Levisons' home burned to the
ground, but the family silver sur-
vived; a trusted Chinese house ser-
vant had buried it in the backyard.
Best Bet
This year marks the 20th anniver-
sary of the release of the hit film
Dirty Dancing. Sadly, the film's
co-star, Jennifer
Grey, has not had
a great deal of suc-
cess since. Just
recently, however,
a friend turned me
on to what I con-
sider Grey's best
Jennifer Grey
performance since
and dad, Joel
Dancing.
In 1995, Grey
appeared on Conan O'Brien's late-
night show and sang the song paro-
dy "David Crockett, King of Delancey
Street."
The song was written by Jennifer's
paternal grandfather, Jewish come-
dian-singer Mickey Katz. Jennifer's
father, as most people know, is
Oscar-winner Joel Grey, who
changed his name to Grey from Katz.
Jennifer Grey's 1995 performance
is now posted on YouTube. Go to:
youtube.com/watch?v=fv5cwwsdras.
Film Notes
Adam Sandler co-stars in the film
I Now Pronounce You Chuck and
Larry, opening Friday, July 20.
Sandler (Chuck) and King of
Queens star Kevin
James (Larry) play
two heterosexual
firefighters who are
best friends. Larry
is a widower with
two children and,
due to a quirk in the
J.J. Abrams
benefit rules, can
ensure his kids will
get benefits after his death only if he
is in an official domestic partnership
with another firefighter.
Chuck, who is Jewish, agrees to
go along with Larry's scheme, and
the two are married in a gay Jewish
wedding. (Or what appears to be a
Jewish wedding in the film's trailer).
Chuck and Larry figure that
nobody but the benefits department
will know they are claiming to be gay
partners. But complications ensue
when the benefits office sets out
to investigate the veracity of their
romance.
Eventually, the news leaks to the
public that two macho firefighters
are claiming to be gay. Jessica Biel
co-stars as the lawyer Chuck and
Larry hire to defend their domestic
partnership status.
Director-writer-producer J.J.
Abrams (Lost, Mission Impossible
Ill) created a big advance buzz for
a yet unnamed new film by show-
ing an exciting trailer for it just
before movie-theater showings of
Transformers. The trailer depicts
New Yorkers enjoying dinner when,
suddenly, the lights go out and the
city is pelted with fireballs.
Internet blogs were burning up
with speculation about the new film,
which some are calling Cloverdale.
Abrams denies that is the work-
ing title of the film but confirms it
will be released in January 2008
and that cute Jewish actress Lizzy