By Nate Bloom
Contributing Columnist
Here’s my catch-up item on “Kinda Pregnant,” an original Netflix comedy movie. It began streaming on Feb. 5 (last Wednesday).
Basic plot: AMY SCHUMER, 43, plays Lainey, a single, childless woman who wants a child. But that doesn’t happen for her. Then, Kate (Jillian Bell), Lainey’s best friend, gets pregnant and Lainey is very jealous. She stuffs a big pillow under her clothes and she tells everybody that she’s pregnant.
There are many intentionally amusing scenes in which friends and others comment on her “difficult” pregnancy symptoms. Of course, Lainey knows that her appearance has nothing to do with pregnancy.
The big twist in the plot comes when Lainey meets Josh (Will Forte), a perfect guy who is romantically interested in Lainey and is able to cope with the pregnancy. Lainey’s problem: how does she tell him the truth?
The film was co-written by Schumer and that’s a positive. “Kinda” was produced (financed) by the Happy Madison company. Its founder and CEO is ADAM SANDLER, 58. The “Kinda” director is TYLER SPINDEL, 40. He’s Sandler’s nephew.
Tyler’s mother, ELIZABETH, 68, is Adam’s sister and a dentist. Tyler’s father, GERALD, is an ophthalmologist (Adam has a brother and another sister)
Tyler did stand-up comedy in New York after graduating (2007) from Harvard. But, I guess, he wasn’t a hit. He then directed episodes of the CHELSEA HANDLER talk show for a few years.
Then his uncle got him a movie-directing gig: an original comedy film for Netflix (“Father of the Year,” 2018). After “Father,” Spindel directed two more original Netflix comedy movies (“The Wrong Missy” and “The Out-Laws”).
All three films were killed by critics. But all three attracted big audiences. “Missy,” a raunchy comedy, got truly huge viewing numbers.
“Why?” you may ask. I have two answers: the cast members were seasoned comedians who could make anything sound funny — and there are so few comedies in theaters today, that Netflix viewers go to the “best thing in town.”
Despite what I wrote, it appears that at least one filmmaker has been drawing in respectable numbers of filmgoers, to theaters, to watch comedies. However, his comedy films come with an asterisk. His name is JOSH RUBEN, and he’s making comedic horror films.
Ruben, 41, is the son of a Jewish father and an Italian (not Jewish) mother. He knocked around in theater related things and gained some fame for videos he made with SAM REICH, 40, a childhood friend. Sam is the son of ROBERT REICH, 78, the former Secretary of Labor.
Ruben used every penny he had to make “Scare Me,” a 2020 comedy horror film that Ruben wrote, directed, and starred in. It got good reviews and it played the Sundance Film Festival.
He followed with “Werewolves Within,” another comedy horror film. This film, too, got good reviews and it made some money in theaters and from on-demand rentals. Ruben just directed “Werewolves.” Others wrote this film and acted in it.
“Heart Eyes,” a romantic slasher comedy film, opens in theaters on Feb. 7. Ruben directed. The supporting cast includes veteran actress MICHAELA WATKINS, 53.
Here’s the film’s premise: co-workers working late on Valentine’s Day are mistaken for a couple by the infamous Heart Eyes Killer. Now the couple must spend the most romantic night of the year running for their lives.
Last month, I wrote an item about the premiere (Jan. 7) of “Doc,” a Fox series. The central character is Dr. Amy Larsen (Molly Parker), a hospital chief doctor, who had an injury which caused her to lose the memories of the last eight years of her life.
After the airing of the first show, a reader emailed me and said she was sure a (fictional) hospital doctor was wearing a chai. I watched the episode two times and, finally, I realized she was right. In the first scene, of the first episode, a doctor has a chai just barely visible for less than a minute, I dug out that Dr. Jake Heller (played by actor Jon Ecker) wore the chai.
In the third episode (Jan. 21), the chai is visible several times and there’s more Jewish stuff. There’s a flashback scene before Larsen’s injury. Larsen and Heller are eating a dinner at the hospital. (We know they were then lovers). Heller says he is working on Passover. He then shows Larson the Pesach food he has packed for himself and he offers some to her.
So far, Heller is close to a perfect Jewish doctor: ethical, competent, loyal, chai-wearing and very good looking.