Old Jews Telling Jokes
Movie Review

About the Film
& Synopsis
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Info

Directed By	Sam Hoffman
Actors	Quite possibly your next door neighbour's favourite uncle, or the nice little old lady who lives on the corner with 15 cats - literally just about anybody they could find who was old, Jewish, and had a joke to tell. You have to see it to belive it.
Genre	Comedy
Run Time	44 minutes
Release Date	September 15, 2009
Studio	First Run Features

Just what it’s called: old Jews telling jokes. The 18 joke tellers featured aren’t professionals; rather they’re doctors, lawyers, a garment worker, a wine salesman… With wonderful timing and mannerisms, and bouncy klezmer music backing them up, these funny old alter kockers deliver, with great delight, the off-color and risqué jokes from a bygone era.

EI Indexed Review(s)

Editor reviews

Simply Hilarious!

Rating:

3.5

User Review

User Reviews

Einsiders contributor Jon Ted Wynne and his wife,
writer/actress Rhiannon Benedict
watched and co-reviewed the following DVD

Jon Ted Wynne says:

OLD JEWS TELLING JOKES is precisely that: a number of male and female older Jewish people standing before the camera, shot in front of a neutral white screen, telling jokes.

It’s not going to win an Oscar for innovation, but it is guaranteed to entertain. While many of the jokes are off-colour, most of them are genuinely laugh-out-loud funny. Your enjoyment of this film will in large part be determined by whether or not you find the raucous humour offensive or not.

I have to admit, there is something off-putting about people (especially older people) using profanity in the name of humour. But that is my only criticism of an otherwise brilliant concept. Of course standing in front of a camera telling a joke is about as simple as you can get, but who else has thought to do it? In a very real way, the idea of making this into a film is sheer brilliance.

What is particularly enjoyable is watching these “ordinary” people from a variety of professions, many of them retired, having their moment of fame. The exuberant enjoyment of telling a funny joke well is contagious. Most of the joke-tellers are very good. Those who tend to ramble are helped by judicious editing. The pace of the film is very fast (it’s only 44 minutes, for crying out loud).

Doctors, lawyers, a garment worker, a wine salesman—a cross-section of professions is represented by the 18 joke tellers, all of whom come across as “your favourite Jewish uncle or grandparent,” according to the promotional material. Personally, I would blush if any of my relatives recounted most of these jokes!

The pace of the film is aided by klezmer music. Klezmer is a musical tradition with very deep routes in Jewish culture. Mainly employed today for celebrations such as weddings and bar or bat mitzvhas, the bounce and wail so characteristic of the klezmer style is a perfect complement to the jokes with their zinging punch lines.

Another joy is watching the faces of the joke tellers as they elicit laughter from the crew. It’s a reminder of the common bond of humour and the joy of laughter.

Old Jews Telling Jokes is a pleasant diversion, at times wildly hilarious.

Rhiannon Benedict says:

Well… so … this film is… how to say it, um, politely…

OK, imagine the people you see feeding pigeons in the park every Sunday afternoon… or, possibly, chatting endlessly with the cashier while you stand in line behind them with a jug of milk, shifting from one foot to the other until they finally run out of things to say and shuffle out of the store.

Right, got that image? Well… are you sitting down? They star in this movie.

And their amazing skill is – to stand in front of the camera and tell you a joke.

A dirty joke.

Sometimes a really dirty joke.

A laugh-out-loud-I-know-I-shouldn’t-be-laughing-at-this-but-I-just-can’t-help-it-oh-my-word-did-she-really-say-what-I-think-she-said kind of joke. And then they stand there looking awkward or clever or cocky, waiting for someone to laugh.

Prepare to be overwhelmed with the brilliance of simplicity. And to laugh your face off.

For 44 minutes.

Priceless.

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