The Hebrew Hammer

Santa Claus: no match for the Hammer.

I love the humour of 70’s blacksploitation films, Mel Brooks and early Woody Allen, so I had a few good laughs with this one.

This is a ‘Jewsploitation’ comedy. Now the good thing about this is, that we all know making fun of stereotypes has been funny for thousands of years and that this film is no exception.

The Hammer (Adam Goldberg) known to his mother as Mordechai Jefferson Carver, is as the tag-line says “Part man. Part street. 100% kosher”. The “certified circumcised private dick” is assigned to save Hanukkah, which is under threat from the evil son of Santa Clause, who dethroned the old man and is determined to put an end to the Jewish holiday.

This film is full of Jewish references, some of which were lost on me. None the less, there are so many jokes hidden in the detail and things happening in the background (much like Naked Gun, Airplane etc) it’s guaranteed to amuse Jews and Gentiles alike. That is unless you are an uptight politically sensitive moron.

The scenes at the dinner table with his mother I found particularly funny (look out for the cat!)

Although the gags start to wear a little thin towards the end, this film really is packed full of funny shit. Even The Black Panthers volunteer their assistance to The Hammer.

Favourite lines:

- “Shabbat Shalom, mother fuckers.”

- “I need you to get in contact with the world-wide Jewish media conspiracy and mass produce every holiday movie that has a Jewish protagonist who is depicted in a positive light.”

You'll like this if you liked : Austin Powers, Undercover Brother, I'm gonna git you sukka.

3 stars / 5.

-- Kinko P Douglas