You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah (2023)

Jack and I found this uneven but with plenty of laughs as wealthy girls plan their lavish coming-of-age parties (way more important to them than the Jewish religious ceremonies) while navigating teen drama. It's a family affair, with Adam Sandler's daughter Sunny playing the protagonist Stacy, Adam as her laid-back indulgent father (and not the lead role), another daughter Sadie Sandler as Stacy's sister Ronnie, and their mother Jackie Sandler as the mother of Stacy's best friend Lydia, who is played by Samantha Lorraine.

As she did in Uncut Gems, Idina Menzel plays Sandler's wife and Sarah Sherman is hilarious as the unhinged rabbi. The cast is enormous and includes appearances by Jackie Hoffman and Luis Guzmán.

Directed by Sammi Cohen from a script by Alison Peck, based on Fiona Rosenbloom's 2005 young adult novel, the movie is, as previously noted, pretty funny. The filmmakers were able to add diversity to the cast with character names such as Lydia Rodriguez Katz and Kym Chang Cohen.

Amanda Yamate and Este Haim are credited with the 17 minute soundtrack, streaming on Apple Music and, no doubt, elsewhere. Imdb lists 39 songs. Apple Music also has a two hour+ playlist with 32 of the songs plus the short soundtrack. 

Adam Sandler was last blogged for Hustle, Menzel for Uncut Gems, Guzmán for Keanu, and Haim for co-scoring Cha Cha Real Smooth. Sunny Sandler has had parts in twenty-one features (including Hustle), Sadie has had twenty, and Jackie has over three dozen. Sherman is best known for twenty episodes of Saturday Night Live. I'm a big fan of Hoffman's and some of my favorites of her work are Kissing Jessica Stein (2001), Garden State (2004), (four episodes of) The New Normal, Birdman, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, (three episodes of) The Marvelous Mrs, Maisel, and (fifteen episodes of) Only Murders in the Building (which we finished last night!). 

Cohen has one other feature and several TV shows and shorts to her credit. This is Peck's third feature and Yamate's fourth.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics RSVPed yes enthusiastically with an average of 91%, while its audiences had some no-shows at 61. Apparently it is Adam Sandler's highest rated movie. We watched it on Netflix September 4.