TMS Movie Review: You are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah
(Happy Madison / Netflix)
Middle school is hell, this much is true. I have a mix of good and bad memories from elementary school, high school and college, but those three years from ages 11 to 14 are blocked from my memory on purpose. Sammi Cohen’s new teen comedy You are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah sets us in the modern east coast suburbs where Sunny Sandler [younger daughter of Adam] is the most recent personification of cinema’s young, cute, frustrated, angst ridden Jewish girl. In the same vein as Kelly Fremon Craig’s Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret (2023) and even P.T. Anderson’s Licorice Pizza (2021), My Bat Mitzvah unapologetically puts the awkward and immature parts of growing up as a member of a religious family at the center.
Stacy Friedman (Sunny) is an average 7th grader attending Hebrew School to prepare for the big day of her childhood: her Bat Mitzvah. She has all the amazing party plans laid out, the best friend in the world, Lydia Katz (Samantha Lorraine), supportive parents—Bree (Idina Menzel) and Danny (Adam)—an older sister, Ronnie (Sadie Sandler), who’s not too bad, and a good share of school friends gradually helping her reach the popular crowd. There’s just one problem. Stacy saw Lydia kissing Stacy’s old class crush, Andy (Dylan Hoffman) at a house party.
(Happy Madison / Netflix)
Sandler wife Jackie and Luis Guzmán appear as Lydia’s mom and dad. You are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah is based on Fiona Rosenbloom’s 2005 young adult novel of the same name and adapted by Alison Peck. Considering how testosterone heavy Happy Madison productions usually are, it’s nice Adam, co-producer here, actually went through the effort to make sure a movie about young girls is told by women. Sunny is a delight as the lead, and the latest ‘nepo baby’ to prove she has the talent, presence and potential for her own success. My Bat Mitzvah as a family affair isn’t a detriment to its quality either and is probably one of the reasons Sunny feels so comfortable with her first starring role. The foursome looks like they’re genuinely having fun acting together, as do Lorraine and Menzel in the mix. With the exception of some clunky vernacular that sounds more like viral social media sound bites than actual tween expressions, My Bat Mitzvah is a worthy successor to the John Hughes type of teen films [making it fitting the characters go to a local screening of Sixteen Candles (1984) during the new movie]. Check it out if you’ve got a free night at home and are looking for something on Netflix.