In the trailer for the upcoming movie “Fantasy Life,” out in theaters on April 3, protagonist Sam Stein talks to his therapist about “internalized antisemitism.”
Sam, played by Matthew Shear, who also wrote, directed and produced the film, suspects that he suffers from the condition, wondering if it’s related to “intergenerational trauma.”
“Wonderful,” Judd Hirsch’s Fred replies, nonplused.
At the end of the session, Fred, also clearly Jewish, diagnoses him as merely “an anxious Jew with mild OCD,” though the “mild” appears to be debatable.
That all would’ve been enough to make this movie supremely Jewish, but then a meddling Jewish bubbe shows up: Andrea Martin’s Helen, who recruits Stein, an out-of-work paralegal, to babysit her three granddaughters.
The girls’ dad, David (Alessandro Nivola, who currently stars as Calvin Klein in “Love Story”), is a bassist often away on tour. Their mother, Dianne — played by the always lovable Jewish actress Amanda Peet — is a once successful actor trying to recapture the spotlight. Over bowls of cereal, diner milkshakes and neck taping assistance, she and Sam form a special connection.
We all know that could be a recipe for disaster, but it looks like a recipe for a truly delightful cinematic experience, too, with a magnetic and hilarious cast.
Peet’s Dianne feels intensely relatable. Shear’s Stein is just the right amount of nebbish and neurotic. Nivola, chameleon-like in every role, seems to channel a lovable doofus. Hirsch, as an unfazed therapist, brings wonderful deadpan humor. And Martin, who isn’t Jewish, once again plays the somewhat stereotypical but always enjoyable Jewish mom to a tee, as she did in “Difficult People.”
If that’s not enough for one trailer, we also get a sneak peek of a Martha’s Vineyard Shabbat dinner with Bob Balaban as a Jewish dad making provocative table-side comments. And we get glimpses of other exciting actors: Jessica Harper as Balaban’s wife, Holland Taylor as another therapist and “Girls” star Zosia Mamet as a friend of Stein’s.
“Fantasy Life” recently won the Narrative Feature Audience Award at South by Southwest, and Peet also got a special jury award for her performance at the festival. It premieres in New York on March 27 and nationwide on April 3, making it a perfect, anxious, funny and very Jewish Passover watch.
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