You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah 2023 Movie Review

Adam Sandler found his niche a long time ago with the majority of his movie roles being in light-hearted, and for the most part, inoffensive comedies. He developed his own production company and kept his friends employed by prolifically putting out these standard comedy vehicles. While he has occasionally put in Oscar worthy dramatic performances, he has mostly chosen to stay within his goofy comedy lane. So having said that, this is your typical Adam Sandler family comedy movie. I think most people understand what that means.

The plot is a simple coming of age story with a Jewish twist. It has your typical teenager movie tropes such as mean girls, social awkwardness, having a spat with your bestie, suffering an unrequited crush and dealing with peer pressures. It’s not deep and doesn’t make any profound statement on the genre. It’s just a cute film and a pleasant way to pass an hour plus.

As mentioned already, Sandler likes to employ his close friends but this is the first movie where he has employed his actual family with both his real-life daughters (one in the lead role, and the other supporting) and his wife (also supporting.) The lead Sunny, in my opinion, did a good job for a first time lead role and had chemistry with the actress who played her bff which was central to the story. Of course there was also a natural chemistry with her dad, which gave an authentic, sweet quality to this movie overall. I’m curious to see her in other roles and to see how she matures as an actress.

The other daughter Sadie, played the sardonic older sister. Her role was relatively small so it’s hard to gauge her acting skills, but again the real life father-daughter relationship gave this movie a little more authenticity than it would have had otherwise.

I will say his wife’s role as the BFF’s mother felt less authentic. Maybe she’s not a great actress and couldn’t (or didn’t want to) carry the larger role of the lead’s mother. Instead that role was adequately filled by Idina Menzel. However, Sunny bares a strong, noticeable resemblance to her real life mother and it was hard to ignore this when they shared scenes. I mean if you’re going to use your daughters as your daughters, you might as well use your wife as your wife, especially as Idina’s role didn’t require any outstanding acting. This was somewhat distracting but didn’t really ruin the movie.

In the end, you either like Adam Sandler comedy movies or you don’t. I gave this move a 7 because I generally do. It’s a likeable movie if you come into it with low expectations and just want to be entertained. I mean this is an Adam Sandler movie so why are people even trying to compare this to Judy Blume or Ladybird? That’s just ridiculous.