arts & entertainment

"Milford's Gravity Restaurant brings Raves"
Danny Raskin

ews

4.11 Nate Bloom

Special to the Jewish News

Chinese And A Movie

Opening on Friday, Dec. 21, is This
Is 40, a sort-of-sequel to Knocked
Up, the huge 2007 comedy hit. Like
Knocked Up, this film was written
and directed by Judd Apatow, 45.

Knocked Up

starred Katherine
Heigl and Seth
Rogen, 30, as a
mismatched cou-
ple who eventually
bond because of
Heigl's unplanned
pregnancy. This Is
40 centers on the
other couple in
that film: Debbie
(Heigl's charac-
ter's sister, played
by Leslie Mann)
and Pete, Debbie's
husband (played
Dunham
by Paul Rudd, 43.)
Mann, who isn't
Jewish, is Apatow's real-life wife.
Their real-life daughters, Maude
Apatow, 14, and Iris Apatow, 9,
appeared in Knocked Up as Debbie
and Pete's daughters and reprise
their roles in This Is 40 — with a lot
more screen time.
Maude Apatow, by the way, is
something of a celebrity in her own
right. As noted in a long profile last
summer in the New York Times, her
witty Twitter feed has more than
100,000 followers.
Like most other Apatow films,
This Is 40 is a mixture of pathos
and humor (sometimes quite ris-
que). The pathos mostly concerns
the delicate balance between Pete
and Debbie as they try to hold their
marriage together in the face of
the pressures of everyday life, plus
some financial problems at Pete's
record company.
The supporting cast includes
Albert Brooks, 65, as Pete's
father; Lena Dunham (Girls), 26, as
an employee of Pete's; and Robert
Smigel, 52, as Barry, Pete's friend.
Les Miserables and Parental
Guidance open on Tuesday, Dec. 25.
The former is a film adaptation
of the enormous musical stage
hit based on the famous Victor
Hugo novel. The original French
musical was written by two French
Jews: Claude-Michel Schonberg,
67 (music); and Alain Boubil, 72
(lyrics). The English lyrics are by
Herbert Kretzmer, 87, a South
African-born, English Jew.
The film stars Hugh Jackman
(Valjean), Anne Hathaway (Fantine),

Russell Crowe
(Javert) and
Amanda Seyfried
(Cosette). Sacha
Baron Cohen, 41,
has a supporting
role as the comic
thief Monsieur
Baron Cohen
Thenardier.
I'm hoping that
Parental Guidance is above sitcom
quality. According to press materials,
"Grandfather Artie (Billy Crystal,
64), who is accustomed to calling
the shots, meets his match when he
and his eager-to-please wife, Diane
(Bette Midler, 67), agree to babysit
their three grandkids when their
type-A parents go to work.
"But when 21st-century problems
collide with Artie and Diane's old
school methods, they learn that
bending — and not holding your
ground — binds a family together."
Tom Everett Scott and Marisa
Tomei play the parents of the
kids. One of the
grandkids ("Turner
Simmons") is
1 41113"- played by Joshua
Rush, 10, a wun-
derkind child
actor who did a
TV commercial
Rush
at 10 months and
has been working
steadily since.
A Jewish website recently asked
him how he celebrates Chanukah,
and he replied: "We light candles
every night and eat Dad's delicious
homemade brisket!"

day it's nice to fee
grounded by the
finer things in life.

experience
the force of

Lunch: 11:00 am — 3:00 pm, Mon-Fri
Dinner : 4:00 pm, Mon-Sat

340 N. Main Street • Downtown Milford
248.684.4223 • www.gravityrestaurant.com

Do you want to have a
URI I V EXCITING
New Year's Eve?

Kennedy Center Honors

The Kennedy Center Honors, for
lifetime excellence in the arts, were
awarded on Dec. 2. On Wednesday,
Dec. 26, at 9 p.m., CBS will broad-
cast a film of the awards ceremony
with many artists paying tribute to
the honorees.
Award winners
this year include
the members of
the rock group Led
Zeppelin; blues
guitarist Buddy
Guy, comedian
David Letterman,
All ■
Hoffman
ballerina Natalia
Makarova and
two-time Oscar winner Dustin
Hoffman, 75.
Asked on the red carpet how he
was feeling, Hoffman said: "My wife
(attorney Lisa Gottsegen Hoffman,
58) keeps reminding me that when
I say, 'Pretty good — I am a nomi-
nee,' she says, 'No, you are an hon-
oree.' So it is spectacular."

BY TOM JONES • LYRICS BY HARVEY SCHMIDT
ON STAGE NOW THROUGH NEW `s \R'S EVE!

Come party with the RI
as we welcome KB!

Our New Year's Eve extravaganza includes tickets to the 9 p.m. performance of the fantas-
tic hit musical comedy /Do! I Do!, based on the play The Fourposte . It will be followed by
dancing to all your favorite tunes, a scrumptious buffet, a midnight champagne toast and the
pleasure of being with a lively, friendly crowd. Whether you're a single or a couple, come
enjoy a splendid farewell to the year 2012 with us at the JET.

Tickets are $85 per person. (Subscribers with tickets to another performance may
exchange them for the New Year's Eve show at a pro-rated price.)

To order, please call JET at

248.788.2900 or stop by our box office.

(Be sure to specify that you would like the "play + party" celebration package.)

www.JetTheatre.org

JET performs in the Aaron DeRoy Theatre - Corner of Maple & Drake roads in West Bloomfield.

180060C

JN

December 20 • 2012

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