Directed by Aviva Kempner
As the poster says "You don't have to be Jewish to love Molly," and it's true. Molly Goldberg, a character created by Gertrude Berg in the 1930s, is a simply Jewish mother living in New York City going through her everyday routine...there's nothing to dislike about this typical homemaker. Apparently (or so the filmmakers would have us believe) this Gertrude Berg woman was pretty darn popular on radio and later on television starring in her own sitcom, but for some reason, I've never heard of her at all. And I probably never would've heard of her except that this movie for some inexplicable reason has been playing at the Ritz for weeks now...so we figured we might as well check it out since it's got some huge staying power.
Unfortunately, the film is just an A&E Biography-type thing of Gertrude Berg. It glosses over anything bad or remotely questionable (not explaining why her popular radio show was canceled or dropped or not renewed was the biggest issue, in my eyes) and paints this woman as a saint. And maybe she was, but the praises heaped on this gal were overblown...more popular than FDR and his wife! The most well-known woman in America! Pshaw! Really? If she really was so well known, I feel like I'd at least have heard about her. Sure, I may not have known a thing about her, but I find it hard to believe that I've never heard the name uttered before if she was the greatest thing since matzah as everyone interviewed here would have you believe. Also, it should be noted that with movies being the visual medium that they are, there's nothing more exciting than watching people sitting around a radio listening to the sound waves coming out of it. Not only do we get shots of this once or twice, but it felt like this was all we saw during the first twenty minutes of the movie (I'm exaggerating a little there...but not much).
I wasn't looking for an in-depth analysis of this woman's pros and cons, but something with a little more oomph would've been nice because as it stands now, this simply belongs on any PBS station during a "give-us-your-money telethon."
FINAL TIDBIT: Another ridiculous thing...at the beginning of the movie, they say that Gertrude was extremely influential in terms of creating the first "sitcom-like" television show. In order to show this influence, they show Gertrude (and several guest stars on her show) walking through a doorway on the set of "Yoo Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg" into the Goldberg residence. Apparently, shows like Seinfeld, Friends, and I Love Lucy copied this from Gertrude because we see clips of Kramer, Chandler Bing, and Ricky Ricardo walking through doors to get into their apartments, too! Naturally, people didn't walk into apartments through doors prior to "Yoo Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg," they just magically appeared.
The RyMickey Rating: D+
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