Written by: Susan Granger
www.susangranger.com

Think of this cultural comedy as "My Big Fat Jewish Bar Mitzvah."

It begins with the glitzy "Titanic"-themed Los Angeles extravaganza thrown by the titular Steins for their son. It's the spectacularly vulgar creation of cutthroat Hollywood agent Arnie Stein (Larry Miller). "I'm king of the Torah," the Bar Mitzvah boy crows.

Determined to meet the challenge of his ex-partner and rival, Adam Fiedler (Jeremy Piven) decides to exceed that elaborate excess for his son's upcoming religious coming-of-age celebration, holding the event in at Dodger Stadium, complete with Neil Diamond singing "Hava Nagila" and gourmet hors d'ouvres in the shape of bats and balls by Wolfgang Puck. There's only one problem: the Bar Mitzvah boy.

Already overwhelmed by the angst of adolescence, shy Benjamin Fiedler ("Spy Kids" Daryl Sabara) doesn't want the all the hoopla. He's supported by his skinny-dipping, hippie grandfather Irwin (Garry Marshall), which is not surprising, since Irwin and Adam have been bitterly estranged ever since wayward Irwin abandoned Adam's mother (Doris Roberts) a quarter-century ago. Irwin unexpectedly shows up in a beat-up trailer with his free-spirited vegan girlfriend, Sandy/Sacred Feather (Daryl Hannah).

If Benjamin can reunite his father and grandfather and pull off a meaningful, understated event, he will, indeed, be a man, not to mention a mensch.

Screenwriter Mark Zakarin and director Scott Marshall (son of Garry, nephew of Penny) gently tread the thin line between stereotypes and family values, never veering into the biting satire of status envy to ameliorate the glib, formulaic predictability of the ethnic humor and melodrama. Plus there's Cheryl Hines as a party-planner and Richard Benjamin as the book-plugging rabbi.

On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, "Keeping Up With the Steins" is a benign, not-so-kosher 6. Mazel tov!