Very well executed

Too many fans seem to be blown away

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Blistering performances.

Being Jewish, I have a bias towards liking a film like this. The usage of Yiddish, along with the many exaggerations of the Jewish family are something most people won't understand, unless they grew up around it. Parts of this film I found to be hysterical, while my non-Jewish friend, sitting next to me, didn't get it at all. As for the film, it's a lie before the credits even stop rolling. Keeping Up With The Steins, really has very little to due with the Stein family, as they are part of the background story at best. The film is actually about a broken family, forced together on the eve of a child's Bar Mitzvah. Benjamin Fiedler (Daryl Sabara) is turning 13, which in the Jewish religion means that he is about to become a man. His parents are well off and are making huge plans for the event, but Ben wants no part of it. In an attempt to take the attention off himself, he sends an invitation to his estranged Grandfather that he's never met, a Grandfather, who shows up to the families wealthy neighborhood in an old RV, with a woman half his age. This is where the heart of the story comes from, as father and son are forced together after fifteen years. Jeremy Piven stars as the son and believe it or not he's a big time Hollywood agent, living in a life of luxury. This toned down version of Ari is forced to see his father, played by the legendary Garry Marshall. For the past 15 years, he's been living as a hippie, teaching on an Indian reservation. As soon as they see each other the two are at odds and it really is very funny. The star of the film is Spy Kids, Daryl Sabara, who I have never liked. He's just always so shy and painfully awkward, I really just don't understand his appeal. While he is a major part of the story, the parts of the film that feature him without Marshall or Piven are just painful. Keeping Up With The Steins isn't raunchy and much of the humor is intertwined in the Jewish religion. If you're not Jewish, you'll probably have the same reaction my friend did. Personally I loved it, but I can understand how this film won't appeal to everybody.

I cried, I laughed, I called people to tell them to see it. This is the most real portrayal of what it means to be a member of a family that I have ever seen. It is about growing up. It is about letting go of disappointment (including childhoods that didn't meet our expectations). It was called a shallow sitcom. Whoever said that must have had a sitcom life. I watched it on demand but I am going to buy it today. For Jewish people, it will really hit home (like old family videos), but for anyone else, it is all families. There is not a lost moment. Not a shallow minute. If it were a sitcom, I would record every episode. It makes me doubt other critiques. Give this movie a chance. It is better than therapy!

This comedy hits it right on the head detailing that the idea of the Bar Mitzvah in the Jewish religion has been long-lost. Rather, it has become the elaborate parties that families engage in to outdo one another.Such as the case with this film. In addition to the obvious plot, we are subjected to an estranged relationship by a father's abandonment of his family 26 years before and his attempt to reestablish a relationship with his bitter son at the time of his grandson's Bar Mitzvah celebration.Nice seeing Richard Benjamin back in films after many years behind the camera. His role as the rabbi is brief but to the point.Gary Marshall steals the film as the grandfather and should be Oscar nominated in the supporting category. Doris Roberts, wonderful as always, plays the understanding grandmother. She is willing to admit that she was to blame as well for her husband abandoning the family years before. Ms. Roberts seems to be comfortable in Jewish related theme films as is evident by the television rendition of "The Diary of Anne Frank," the television film "Yiddish," with Harold Gould and the 1975 film "Hester Street" with Carol Kane. She is continuing down the path of the late Shelley Winters.A film for all which shows what religion should be all about.

This endearing movie is a coming of age film in an upper upper middle class family in a Jewish neighborhood in LA. Meet Benjamin Fiedler (Daryl Sabara) age 13. Ben has reached the age where he undergoes the bar mitzvahs ritual to mark the entrée to adulthood. Of course his friend Zachary Stein (Carter Jenkins)who precedes Ben warns "this doesn't mean you can drink or drive a car.The Stern family threw a lavish affair with a movie theme based upon the Titanic. Ben's dad Adam Fielder decides the Fielders must outdo the splendor of the Sterns by renting out Dodger Stadium. Adam Fielder (Jeremy Piven) is not a little sore that his own bar mitzvahs was a subdued affair and that his father Irwin Fiedler (Garry Marshall) deserted the family.Religion and the meaning of the rite has taken a back seat to the planning of an extravagant event. Enter grandpa Irwin who arrives a week early. As Dad bristles with a contempt grandma Rose (Doris Roberts) cannot bring herself to bear, grandpa with his ding-a-ling left-over hippie girlfriend Sacred Feather sets up his rusty RV on the driveway depreciating the property values.Can Ben and Grandpa Irwin set the ceremony back on track?There is an excellent performance of Richard Benjamin as Rabbi Schulberg.While there is a gratuitous nudie scene when grandpa goes skinny dipping in the Fielder's pool with Sacred Feather, the film is excellent family comedy which speaks to a universal theme, the importance of simplicity and the eloquence of understatement. It is too bad more films are not made in this spirit.