If I had my eyes closed at the opening, I might have though that I was hearing Isaac Hayes introducing Shaft. What I got, however, was the Jewish version of Shaft - The Hebrew Hammer.It plays like a blaxploitation film of the seventies, but it's purpose is to slam every Jewish stereotype they can. They added a lot of Black stereotypes as well, as the Hammer joined with the Kwanzaa League to defeat the evil Santa that was trying to wipe out Hanukkah.Adam Goldberg was good as the Hammer, and Mario Van Peebles as his Black partner. Andy Dick as Santa's son, not so much. Nora Dunn was perfect as the Hammer's mother.

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

I admit a weakness for these types of self-conscious parodies when done well.For me, that means a mix of riches. First, it has to be brutal. There's no sense in toying with something stupid and at time showing sympathy for that stupidity. All the better if the targets of the thing have some sort of societal proscription.MASH was funny (when it was) because it treated war like something completely without honor or value. Anything that Mel Brooks does fails the brutality test. He's merely juvenile, and not ashamed to shift perspectives for a giggle.This is funny because it destroys two boundaries. The most obvious is the Jewish stereotype. Yes, it exists. Yes, like any other group, they identify themselves, quite actively bending their lives, by drifting toward those very characteristics as a matter of definition.There's a long tradition of stage humor where Jews make fun of themselves and I assert that all these societal parodies spring from it, at least in the US.But the other bit is ever so clever. What they've built on is a pastiche of blaxploitation movies (and a few others as well). Part of the cleverness is in revealing these things to be even dumber than we readily admit; they take us to extremes we wouldn't otherwise go. Its a bit risky, that.So we have a triple layer here: Jews making fun of the kind of Jewishness they cling to. All of us making fun of a similar dynamic in blacks that black culture isn't mature enough to disparage. (Though half of Chris Rock's stuff comes close.) And on top of that we get some posturing, not much, but some that rigorously belittles us for being the moviewatchers we are. In recent memory the second Charlies Angels did it best, but there wasn't the delicious edge this has.Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

I got his film on DVD for Channukah. The friend who gave it to me and my best friend watched it recently. The film itself is quite good. Lots of cool folks in it (and Andy Dick). Some fine comedic acting and a lot of fun visual gags.We had fun watching it. But when we decided to listen 'for a few minutes' to the commentary we were in stitches. The director and the star of the film were discussing it when the director's Mother came in. She MADE the commentary. We laughed so hard we had to back the thing up to hear what we'd missed. She's a hoot! Great flick, except for Andy doing his usual shtick. FANTASTIC director's commentary.Buy the DVD and enjoy!