OxfordPress.com

[an error occurred while processing this directive]

Verdict: Like warmed-over chicken soup.

Details: Starring Adrien Brody, Joe Montegna and Bebe Neuwirth. Directed by Barry Levinson. Rated R for crude language and sex-related material. 2 hours.

Rate it: Write your own review

Review: What would you call a Jewish version of "The Wonder Years"? The "Oy-Vey Years" perhaps?

Barry Levinson calls his version "Liberty Heights," though, truth be told, in terms of a time frame, it has more in common with Neil Simon's "Brighton Beach Memoirs" or Woody Allen's "Radio Days."

Set in 1954, "Liberty Heights" is "Diner" with a clear conscience. When he made "Diner" in 1982, before he'd had hits like "Rain Man" and "The Natural," Levinson had to glamorize his memories of sitting around, shooting the breeze with his old pals. Thus, the cast included such decidedly non-ethnic types as Kevin Bacon and Mickey Rourke.

"Liberty Heights" is truer to Levinson's roots. A coming-of-age story set in a predominantly Jewish neighborhood in Baltimore, the film focuses on the Kurtzman family — Van (Adrien Brody), a soulful college student, and his irrepressible younger brother, Ben (Ben Foster).

Brought up to think the whole world was Jewish — that's what happens when you go to elementary school with 20 kids named Cohen — both brothers are beginning to explore the world outside their world. Van crashes a WASP party and falls for a Grace Kelly look-alike named Dubbie (Carolyn Murphy), who's dressed like a fairy princess (in case we still don't get it, "A Stranger in Paradise" is heard on the soundtrack).

Meanwhile, Ben is intrigued by Sylvia (Rebekah Johnson), the sole black girl in his newly integrated classroom. When his mother (Bebe Neuwirth) asks about her, he says he thinks she's "very attractive." Moans Momma, "Just kill me now."

An ironic reaction given that, for Dubbie and her pals, there's not a dime's worth of difference between Ben and Sylvia. That's why the sign at the local swimming pool reads, "No Jews, Dogs or Coloreds."

"Liberty Heights" is evocative and generally well-acted (more on that in a minute). But it's also pretty familiar schmaltz. Yeah, a lot of people weren't nice to blacks or Jews in the '50s. A lot of them still aren't. One just wishes that Levinson had found a fresher way to convey this.

Plus, there's something just plain irritating — disturbing? — about a cultural self-portrait in which we never even glimpse the female counterparts to Van and Ben. Presumably the Jewish girls in Liberty Heights were too profile-challenged (pre-nose job) or too reminiscent of the Kurtzmans' grandmother, played as a troll-like chicken soup cliche.

Still, the film has one extraordinary ace up its sleeve: Joe Mantegna as the boys' father, Nate, who runs a dying burlesque house as a cover for his thriving numbers racket. Nate is, on his own terms, a truly honorable man, even if he does skip out of Rosh Hashana services to catch an early glimpse of the new Cadillacs.

Minus Mantegna, "Liberty Heights" might verge on self-loathing. Predictably, one of Van's friends is amazed to find hardwood floors in a WASP home. "Couldn't they afford wall-to-wall?" he wonders.

But Mantegna gives the movie an unexpected dignity, a nuanced self-knowledge that transcends stereotypes.

Our advice: Wait for the video and fast-forward through any parts without him.

— Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, Cox News Service

[an error occurred while processing this directive]