I recently saw the movie This is 40. It was yet another movie with a Jewish husband and his shiksa wife. Paul Rudd was the husband and Leslie Mann was the wife. It was a Judd Apatow film and Leslie Mann is his wife in real life. Judd is Jewish, Leslie man is not. My thought is that religion was a non-issue to Apatow when he married Mann, and it wasn't because he was trying not to marry a Jewish woman. That said , Jewish women are often berated for being whiny and annoying. Well, Leslie Mann is both. Often what a Jewish man says he dislikes in a Jewish woman he finds in a gentile woman. I guess he would prefer a gentile woman to wine than a Jewish one. At least with the show Will and Grace , another gentile male / Jewish woman pairing you knew that they would never marry. Will was going to stay gay.
The plot of the movie was okay - couple turns 40 and feel old, but the Jewish husband /gentile wife cliche is tired or at least I am tired of it.
The plot of the movie was okay - couple turns 40 and feel old, but the Jewish husband /gentile wife cliche is tired or at least I am tired of it.
6 comments:
You have to look at it from the secular angle. In the secular world being Jewish isn't about religion or nationality, it's about an ethnic identity. So a Jewish/Gentile marriage is seen the same way a Greek/WASP one would be - a chance to engage in some cultural clashes and nothing deeper.
Sadly I think you are right.
I hope to live to see the day when intermarriage between Jews and non-Jews no longer exists, except as an unpleasant memory.
Well, in real life, Paul Rudd is actually married to a Jewish woman (even though her surname doesn't necessarily sound Jewish). So is Albert Brooks, who plays Rudd's father.
P.S., in Will & Grace, Grace did marry a Jewish character (played by a Harry Connick, Jr., whose own mother was Jewish, although Harry is Catholic).
Another reason to love Paul Rudd. Sigh. Yes I was very happy that when Grace married someone Jewish on Will and Grace.
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