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February 13, 2012
Binyamin Rose: Back to the Bunker: How a life-risking act by a Christian family during the Holocaust saved a family and built a thriving community a world away
Menachem Wecker: Business Schools Teach Real Estate Despite Troubled Housing Market
February 10, 2012
Lisa M. Krieger: Man with defibrillator demands access to his own heart's information
David G. Savage: Why activists may not be in a hurry to have High Court rule on alternative marriage
February 9, 2012
Laura McMullen: 10 Least Expensive Public Schools for Out-of-State Students
Kimberly Palmer: How to actually enjoy -- relaxing, financially -- your vacation
February 8, 2012
Warren Richey: Why momentous Prop. 8 ruling might not satisfy gay-rights groups
Menachem Wecker: Though Controversial, LL.M.'s Can Lead to Specialized Legal Jobs
The Kosher Gourmet byDana Velden: Going to the bother of making soup? You know it better be good. This CREAM OF TOMATO SOUP certainly is! And it's a cinch to make, too (Includes techinques and serving secrets)
February 7, 2012
Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Caught off-guard? President's Super Bowl interview with Matt Lauer gives those who need a reason not to vote for him, a darn good one
Suzanne Bohan: Leaping lizards! Tiny reptiles advancing robot design
February 6, 2012
Jonathan Tobin: Iran Threatens Israel With Destruction, But the New York Times Doesn't Hear It
Jeffrey Fleishman: In newly democratic Egypt, tens of democracy activists jailed, to stand trial; their groups are 'threatening the stability of the homeland'
Julie Deardorff : Researchers say antioxidants may not be that effective and could do more harm than good
Mark Clayton: How did Anonymous hackers eavesdrop on FBI and Scotland Yard?
February 3, 2012
Edmund Sanders : Israeli official says Iran is creating missile that could reach East Coast of US
Victoria Kim: Immigrant-smuggling ring used black drivers to avoid racial profiling
February 2, 2012
Jim Carney: Wrong number call may have saved her life
Reza Kahlili : Ex-CIA spy in Iran's Revolutionary Guard: What Obama doesn't grasp about striking deals with Tehran
Tina Susman: For woodchuck rescuer, every day is Groundhog Day
February 1, 2012
Brian Bennett: US officials see increasing threat of domestic attack from Iran
Emily Brandon: How to Take Advantage of New 401(k) Fee Disclosures
January 31, 2012
January 30, 2012
Paul Richter and Ramin Mostaghim: Misreading Teheran's limits -- deadly and economically devastating as they may be -- is a risk administration, Europe seem willing to take
Suzanne Bohan: Warning: Nap-deprived tots missing more than sleep, study finds
Meg Handley: Banks Revamping Rewards Programs to Woo Customers
January 27, 2012
Caroline B. Glick: Obama: Of course I intend to prevent a nuclear holocaust . . . in a few months
Yochonon Donn: In liberal New York City, fervently-Orthodox Jews may soon be getting a district to call their own
Jeannine Stein: An inflated ego and thinking you're 'all that' doesn't just make others sick of you, it can make you ill
Katy Hopkins: New budget rules may affect how much money you get for college
January 26, 2012
Ed Koch: To the New York Times, calling for the murder of Jews by those capable of having their incitement taken seriously isn't news
Jeannine Stein: Mental illness struck one in five U.S. adults in 2010: Report
January 25, 2012
Richard Simon: House passes two bills endorsing the use of religious symbols at military memorials
Fred Weir: Putin: Multiethnic Russia cannot survive as a US-style 'melting pot'; must find its own way
Susan Johnston: 5 Sneaky Coupon Strategies Consumers Should Watch Out For
January 24, 2012
Carol Clark: The price of your soul: How your brain decides whether to 'sell out'
Caroline B. Glick: America lost most in 'Arab Spring'. Sadly, many voters still don't grasp the extent
Warren Richey: Drug criminal scores win in GPS ruling from conservative-leaning high court
Erika Bolstad: Black conservatives gather to talk about gaining strength
January 23, 2012
Melissa Dribben: Jewish voters to play a key role in Florida's Republican primary
Jordan Rau: In quest to grow, Catholic hospital system will announce this morning its break from church
Ali Safi: U.S. envoy gives Taliban terms for peace talks
January 19, 2012
January 18, 2012
January 17, 2012
Frank J. Gaffney Jr.: No-kidding red lines: U.S. response to an Iranian nuke may be bluster, but Israel's won't be
David G. Savage: They sued their principals after slandering them online --- now the cases are headed to the Supreme Court
David Francis: Where to Invest in 2012: With stocks expected to rebound, opportunity abounds for investors
January 13, 2012
Ben Lynfield: Israeli lawmakers move to annex Jewish Judea, one museum at a time
Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz: Thriving through touch: Gentle massage helps older people with low mobility improve in mind and body
January 12, 2012
Warren Richey: Landmark Supreme Court ruling a 'resounding win' for religious groups
Warren Richey: Supreme Court says no to new rule on eyewitness testimony
John Fauber : Statins found to raise diabetes risk in postmenopausal women
Katy Hopkins : Consider This Before You Pay for an Online Degree
The Kosher Gourmet by Joseph Erdos: This mushroom and barley soup has an intense -- almost nutty -- flavor that mixes robust with Middle East. It has creaminess without cream
January 11, 2012
Shari Roan: Millions of atrial fibrillation sufferers at risk for devastating, but preventable, stroke
Tom Hussain: Pakistan -- recipient of more than $21 billion in civilian and military aid -- speeds pursuit of Iranian pipeline, defying US
David G. Savage: High court signals it won't be loosening TV's 'indecency' rules
Stephen Ceasar: Oklahoma's Islamic law amendment can't go into effect, court rules
January 10, 2012
Reza Kahlili: From an ex-CIA spy: US must exploit new split in Iran's Revolutionary Guard
Karen Kaplan: Study: Nicotine replacement products ineffective when used in real-life situations
January 9, 2012
Michael Doyle: Put through legal hell over dream home, couple fought back hard --- all the way to Supreme Court
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Jewish World Review
March 31, 2004
/ 9 Nisan, 5764
Along Came ‘Toxic Jewish Women’
By
Elliot Gertel
Introducing the post-Jewish American Princesses
http://www.jewishworldreview.com |
It was, I suppose, inevitable that a film like "Along Came Polly" would actually come along.
Jewish women began to be mercilessly mocked in films during the Sixties and Seventies. In the Eighties and Nineties, they were, by and large, ignored in films by Jewish men. So was it not to be expected that they would be depicted, at the beginning of the twenty-first century, as toxic to Jewish men?
 | | Ben Stiller and Jennifer Aniston |
When upper thirty-something Reuben Feffer (played by Ben Stiller) marries the Jewish woman of his dreams, and in a traditional Jewish ceremony, he is delighted. This woman, portrayed by Debra Messing in short snippets while moonlighting from Will and Grace, is not only Jewish and beautiful, but an ace real estate agent. But is trouble not foreshadowed when Reuben quips during his wedding remarks that his beloved has gouged him on the rent?
While the couple vacations on an island of paradise, a nude scuba diving instructor (Hank Azaria) invites the honeymooners on a voyage of diving lessons. Reuben decides that he does not want to scuba dive, and sends his bride for the lessons. When he goes to pick her up, he discovers that she has sought other kinds of lessons from the instructor; he catches them in bed together along with the diving gear.
Depressed, ashamed, Reuben returns to his office to discover that everyone knows about his humiliating honeymoon. When he asks how his co-workers have found out so quickly, we learn that his mother (Michelle Lee) announced it to everyone. Indeed, Mother does not stop blurting out the story to all whom she sees.
At a party to which he is dragged by his zany former-child-star best friend (Philip Seymour Hoffman, in the film's best performance), Reuben is spotted by Polly Prince (Jennifer Aniston, on hiatus from Friends), a former classmate in seventh grade, now an alluring if adventure-craving woman. Her quirks are those of impulsiveness; his, obsessive and neurotic. After all, Reuben's profession is risk analysis for an insurance company, and he is most frustrated of all that he could not predict the risk factors in his ill-fated marriage.
Reuben is attracted to Polly and pursues her awkwardly. With her help, he catches her, and gets caught up in her colorful hobbies and activities. Though his stomach tells him that he should avoid this romance, his heart keeps thrusting him forward. Neither the mezuzah on his door nor the dress pillows left behind by his wife can daunt Reuben from an affair with a woman very much unlike the Jewish women depicted in the film, a woman who is nice.
Just as the romance seems to progress despite difficult beginnings, Reuben's bride turns up, intent on resuming the marriage after her fling with the scuba instructor proves disappointing. Somehow, the impression is given that the instructor is relieved. All that we really know about the wife is that during her "passionate" affair she was selling real estate like crazy on the island. (A stereotype of the "trophy" businesswoman wife?) Polly happens to be with Reuben when he returns to find his regretful new wife in the apartment, and she quickly and thoughtfully takes leave in order to enable the couple to talk.
In a weak moment Reuben invites his wife to his friend's new play. The ex child star wreaks havoc with the production to the point that the audience is swept into the dispute, including Reuben's father. Dad soliloquizes that this friend has to learn how to go on with his life and to take his own future in his hands. Everyone is impressed with Dad's words of wisdom, especially since Mom never before let him get a word in edgewise. Dad's advice inspires Reuben to send his wife packing and to pursue Polly, the woman of his dreams. The plot even allows for the best friend to find possible career rewards at Reuben's business.
While Reuben and Polly are forging their relationship, he asserts: "I had a mother who made me afraid of everything." She confesses, "My dad had a whole second family." The Jewish men are no more impressive than the Jewish women or the Gentile men (including a daredevil to whom Reuben is assigned). Reuben is lacking in sense and in character. His Jewish boss (Alec Baldwin), who calls Reuben the "best expert in the whole meshugass [craziness] we call the insurance business," casually mentions that his schedule is determined by a pending trip to Barbados with his mistress.
"Along Came Polly" adopts an anti-marriage position. Or was that the proposition all along? Early on, Reuben tells Polly: "I don't want to get married. I just want to take you to dinner some time this week."
. The film ends with an interesting flourish. In an obvious ploy to test Polly, a "wiser" Reuben brings her to the same island and exposes her to the same exhibitionist scuba instructor. One is reminded, for the moment, of Maimonides' teaching that true repentance is achieved when one is faced with the same temptation and does not succumb to it a second time. Polly passes with flying colors, and Reuben is elated to the point of exhibitionism.
Yet these closing scenes only point to Reuben's foolishness in throwing his wife at temptation and then doing the same with Polly. It is Reuben who finds himself in the same situation and who commits the same sin. Actually, it is John Hamburg, the writer and director, who repeats his nasty depictions of Jewish women and whose Jewish men are not impressive, either.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in Washington and in the media consider "must reading." Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
Contributing writer Elliot B. Gertel, JWR's resident media maven, is
a Conservative rabbi based in Chicago. His latest book is "Over the Top Judaism: Precedents and
Trends in the Depiction of Jewish Beliefs and
Observances in Film and Television". (Click HERE to purchase. Sales help fund JWR.) Comment by clicking here.
© 2004, Elliot Gertel
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