The Hebrew Hammer

Comedy

Adam Goldberg	Mordechai Jefferson Carver
Judy Greer	Esther Bloomenbergansteinthal
Andy Dick	Damian Claus
Mario Van Peebles	Mohammed Ali Paula Abdul Rahiem
Peter Coyote	Chief Bloomenbergansteinthal
Nora Dunn	Mrs. Carver
Sean Whalen	Tiny Tim
Tony Cox	Jamal
Richard Riehle	Santa
Melvin Van Peebles	Sweetback

Director	Jonathan Kesselman
Producer	Isen Robbins; Lisa Fragner
Writer	Jonathan Kesselman

A cross between a Kosher Shaft and Airplane!'s shameless gag machine, The Hebrew Hammer is an unabashed burlesque about a streetwise Jewish private detective (a "circumcised dick" in his own parlance) named Mordechai Jefferson Carver (Adam Goldberg). Once ostracized by Gentile children, Mordechai has become a much-feared defender of Jews, so extreme that even the militant Jewish Justice League tosses him out. Until, that is, JJL leader Chief Bloomenbergansteinhal (Peter Coyote) and his lovely daughter Esther (Judy Greer) recruit him to take on the wicked Damien (Andy Dick), a snippy anti-Semite who murders Santa Claus in order to turn Christmas into a Jew-hating holiday. Written and directed by Jonathan Kesselman, this sporadically funny feature is based on a funkier short (included on this DVD) of the same name. The cast is better than the generally obvious material, and Nora Dunn (as Mordechai's mother) and Mario Van Peebles are very good in supporting roles. --Tom Keogh