Bad Shabbos Review: Comedy of Errors

Solid laughs can be found within Bad Shabbos, but the comedy is trapped behind an occasionally stale, sitcom-level premise.

Robbins, who co-wrote the film with Zack Weiner, begins with a well-worn, but simple, premise: David (Jon Bass) is bringing his new fiance Meg (Meghan Leathers) to Shabbat dinner with his family in New York’s Upper West Side, where her Catholic parents will meet them for the first time. Since this is a movie, of course he has an overbearing, overly protective Jewish mother Ellen (Kyra Sedgwick), who could never dream of any woman taking away her son, and a carefree father Richard (David Paymer).

The first act of the film works to efficiently set up David’s quirky family, the world they inhabit, and the fraught relationships between them. A welcome bit of exposition comes in the opening minutes, as David and Meg pick up some wine, and the store owner refuses payment in lieu of putting it on his mother’s tab. There’s his sister Abby (Milana Vayntrub) and her finance-bro boyfriend Benjamin (Ashley Zukerman), who barely tolerate one another and only observe Shabbat traditions out of familial obligation. A solid recurring bit concerns Abby’s intentions to break up with him, but being unable to find the right time to do so. There’s David’s socially awkward younger brother Adam (Theo Taplitz), who dreams of joining the IDF. There’s also the building’s doorman, Jordan (Cliff “Method Man” Smith), who is abnormally tight with Richard. 

Because this is a movie, long-simmering disagreements get blown out of proportion or lead to bigger misunderstandings. Like Meg, who has been taking classes to convert to Judaism, but can’t please Ellen no matter how hard she tries. But the real conflict kicks in once Adam laces Benjamin’s drink with a laxative, not knowing he suffers from colitis, which causes him to fall and die. There’s plenty of laughs to be found throughout all of Bad Shabbos, but the comedy elevates once more and more members of the family discover what happened and try to wriggle their way out of it. Each member of the ensemble carries their own distinct energy to the film, and Robbins and Weiner bring some sharp observations about modern Jewish life. 

It’s unfortunate, then, that once Meg’s parents (Catherine Curtin and John Bedford Lloyd) appear, Bad Shabbos devolves into a generic sitcom episode, where the family tries to cover up the tragedy by any means necessary. Wacky hijinks ensue to an almost predictable degree, including some Comedy 101-level jokes about Hebrew prayers and traditions. But the presence of the game cast, and their abilities to elevate such material, nearly makes up for it.

Good star-driven comedies are hard to come by in the year of our lord 2025, so while Robbins’ film may lose points for its stale premise, I still believe the laugh factor ultimately makes it worth seeing with a crowd wherever possible.

Bad Shabbos will be released in theatres in New York City on May 23, 2025, in San Francisco and additional cities on May 30, and in Los Angeles, the NY metro area, and additional markets on June 6.