Odd as it may sound, it takes a bit of brains to enjoy the Hebrew Hammer. The movie requires its viewers to have a fairly extensive knowledge of Jewish stereotypes, which is what the film lives off of, quite effectivelyNot since Mel Brook's last good movie (Men in Tights) have I sampled Jewish humour this laugh out loud. It's wild and wacky, and despite pushing into the red zone, it's not all that offencive (unless you are orthodox). My dad is an extremely tough critic, and is easily offended by red zone stuff, but I got him to watch part of this, and he laughed. The plot is deliberately cheesy. It concerns a pimping agent of a Jewish Justice League, who goes by the name of 'Hammer', and he takes on the mission to stop Santa Claus Jr. from destroying Chanukah (which he is unable to pronounce).The jokes keep coming, and they never get tiring, but in the climactic twenty minutes, something goes wrong. The humour starts to disintegrate a bit (except for a funny cameo by Ed Koch) and the silliness of the plot ceases to wink at itself, It goes from satirical cliché to regular cliché (the hero must rescue his damsel in distress)Well, no film is perfect. I suppose there is one other problem with the movie, but it's not as big a deal. I'm not realty sure who best to recommend it to. If I had to guess I would say this kind of stuff would be right for the same audience who embraces Team America. It is crude, crazy, satirical, but really funny.

Great comedic concept, poking fun at religious stereotypes, and especially Jewish stereotypes, which are hilariously lampooned. This clever comedy is destined for cult status. Some of the ideas seem to have been "borrowed" from Woody Allen, and in fact the Santa Claus in "The Hebrew Hammer" is a dead ringer for Woody, which makes it even funnier. Although wildly uneven, there is enough terrific, irreverent, material to maintain interest throughout. The idea of making a Jewish superhero patterned after "blaxpoitation" movies is pure comedy genius. There is something here to offend almost everyone, so if you are at all religiously sensitive, you would be advised to steer clear. All others prepare to laugh till it hurts. - MERK

Back in the 70s there was a genre called blacksploitation best exemplified by the classic "Shaft" about a super-cool black detective. Those movies were semi-serious but this show about a cool Jewish detective is played strictly for laughs and it delivers. Adam Goldberg plays Mordechai Carver who tries to be cool but sometimes just can't help but lose it. His stereotyped Jewish mother played by Nora Dunn esp drives him ballistic with her whining about how she wishes he was a lawyer and by her disgusting habits like changing the cat's diaper at the dinner table!! She is a scream.The plot centers on madman Damian Claus who murders his father Santa and then sets out to destroy Hannukah. He's played by Andy Dick who does a great job as the evil sadistic villain. May not sound funny but he is.My only complaint with the movie is with the grossness of some of the humor. You got people spitting on each other and then you see this green stuff running down their faces. If it wasn't for that i'd give this a ten. Of course if you're 12 or a republican you'll prolly think that's the best part . Still it's a great show and they even do a take-off on the super-famous music from Shaft. "He's a complicated man and no one understands him but his mother."

I completely enjoyed this film. It had all of the things that I think make a good movie. It was comedic, romantic, completely unorthodox and somewhat perverted. The storyline was put together very well and the actors and actresses completely fit the parts. I think you would enjoy this film much more if you were Jewish, but you would still understand most of it even if you weren't. I think this movie shouldn't be viewed by anyone under 11, depending on how fussy the parents are about their kids seeing a film with coarse language, mild sexuality and some violence. I, however am 12, and I thoroughly understood every joke in the movie, but that's only because I happen to be Jewish. I think comprehension is a major necessity in this film, because there are many references to Judaism. Thank you for reading my review.