This smug short subject Oscar winner made in the US is a clumsy piece of heavy handed satire that borders on being downright offensive. Lacking in wit or originality the film parodies West Side Story in the comic environment of the Palestinian Israeli conflict (see Paradise Now). Both Jews and Palestinians are reduced to buffoons as they battle for fast food supremacy from their respective eateries Kosher King and The Hummus Hut.
Director Ari Sandel's less than inspired idea degrades even more upon fruition as he turns his characters into arch cliché (Menorah Mickey?)and seething ignoramus, wearing funny hats, singing to camels and joking about suicide bombers. The choreography is lack lustre and the parody side of the music score falls flat on its face. West Side Story is filled with identifiable melodies and ripe for satirical lyrics but Bank doesn't employ them and the concept defeats itself. The slapstick, broad and over the top (ululating cashier firing an AK 47 into the ceiling as well as a fiddler on the roof) completes this sweeping failure of a satire that is overlong at twenty minutes. It's condescension is only surpassed by it's artistic ineptitude.
Director Ari Sandel's less than inspired idea degrades even more upon fruition as he turns his characters into arch cliché (Menorah Mickey?)and seething ignoramus, wearing funny hats, singing to camels and joking about suicide bombers. The choreography is lack lustre and the parody side of the music score falls flat on its face. West Side Story is filled with identifiable melodies and ripe for satirical lyrics but Bank doesn't employ them and the concept defeats itself. The slapstick, broad and over the top (ululating cashier firing an AK 47 into the ceiling as well as a fiddler on the roof) completes this sweeping failure of a satire that is overlong at twenty minutes. It's condescension is only surpassed by it's artistic ineptitude.