Buy Oy Vey! My Son Is Gay!

Oy Vey! My Son Is Gay!

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Synopsis

A wildly funny farce about two Jewish parents who don't want to believe their son is gay. A great cast headed by the Jewish mother to end all Jewish mothers, Lainie Kazan.

Review

In the farcical tradition of Norman, Is That You?, Mambo Italiano and La Cage aux Folles comes this raucous, star-studded comedy,Oy Vey! My Son Is Gay! about two determined Jewish parents who will do anything to keep their faygala son on the straight and narrow. The indomitable Lainie Kazan is the brassy and opinionated Shirley, and Saul Rubinek is her long under-her-thumb husband, Martin. Blissfully unaware that the sexual revolution has come and gone, their only wish is that their son marry a nice Jewish girl. When their very successful (and so handsome!) son Nelson reluctantly reveals that his is in fact gay (and on top of that, his lover is a goy!), it sets off a series of actions by his frantically scheming parents to make him understand that it’s just a phase. A terrifically funny cast includes a beardless Bruce Vilanch as a (barely) closeted husband, Jai Rodgriguez as the love interest and the burley Vincent Pastore as Jai’s accepting father. But it is Carmen Electra, who steals every scene she is in, as the blonde bombshell vixen asked by the parents to seduce the son back to heterosexuality. More Jewish than kugels and Manischewitz, Oy Vey delivers the laughs big time!

-- Raymond Murray

Keywords

Comedy, Coming Out, Family Life, Friendship, Gay Male, Gay/Lesbian, GLBT Creator / Performer / Writer, Hollywood/Celebrity, Love Triangle, Parenting

Genres

Comedy

Customer Reviews

Love is Love

Amos Lassen wrote on 08/15/2010:

“Oy Vey! My Son Is Gay!!”

Love is Love

Amos Lassen

This is the story of a Jewish family living on Long Island, where every Friday night, mother Shirley Hirsch (Lainie Kazan) invites another “perfect” girl for Shabbat dinner because she hopes in that her son, Nelson (John Lloyd Young), will marry a nice Jewish girl. However, Nelson has other ideas and things start hoping when Shirley finds out that her dreams of a perfect Jewish girl are dashed by the mysterious person that Nelson is dating turns out to be not only not Jewish, and a boy! It is a romantic, campy, heartwarming and family comedy about a Jewish family as it struggles to come to terms with their son’s coming out.
The cast is excellent. Lainie Kazan as Shirley and Saul Rubinek as her husband are perfect as the parents and their chemistry is wonderful. Even though there is a great deal of exaggeration in the situations, everything seems believable. However the pacing of the movie was not so good at some points in the movie. The message is strong and this is a film for all people, not just Jews—all families share the same prejudices (at least many do) and here we see how two families react to a very real situation and how they come together through love and understanding.

It's an old fashioned style film with a modern day storyline. With Kazan, the hysterical Bruce Vilanch and beautiful Carmen Electra star in this 60's style comedy. There is also an outstanding supporting cast.
The plot is quite simple: Thirty-something Nelson Hirsh (John Lloyd Young) lives with partner Angelo (Jai Rodriguez) but his family does not know. His mom Shirley and father, Martin want to fix him up with a nice Jewish girl. That is every Jewish mothers' mission for those of you who do not know. Carmen Electra is mistaken as Nelson’s fiancé and this forces him to come out to his family. Nelson and Angelo decide to make their relationship legal and adopt a child and what follows is a family dealing with acceptance and learning that love is love. Director/writer/producer Evgeny Afineesky has a hit on his hands and this movie shows a real gay relationship without the sex scene and the music to accompany it. Forget the fact it was entertaining, it brings this important powerful message to everyone about unconditional love and acceptance.
Those of you who know me will understand why I am so excited about this film. It has its problems but the message it gives us is so important that I am overlooking those.