This movie reminded me of "UnderCover Brother". Sure, this movie was rather tasteless and obviously a low budget film. It was very funny. I myself am Jewish and was able to laugh and relate to this movie. I do not know if you would enjoy it if you were of another religion, but I still recommend this movie. There were many hidden references and of course some basic Yiddish humor packaged in. It easily could have been a modern Mel Brooks movie, and if you enjoy his humor i recommend this film. Although some jokes became repetitive, and were overdone, there are many MANY funny jokes that I could laugh about.
This is one of those movies you should see multiple times. I guarantee you will catch more jokes and references making each viewing funny. So overall it was a cheap lo budget comedy. But a Funny cheap low budget comedy. A rare find indeed.
Plot summary
When a psychotic Santa tries to destroy Chanukah by hypnotizing Jewish children with bootlegged copies of the Christmas classic "It's a Wonderful Life," it's up to the Hebrew Hammer to save the day. Together with Mohammed, head of the Kwanzaa Liberation Front, the Hammer takes no prisoners in his quest to hunt down the renegade Santa and make the holiday season safe for all.
Uploaded by: FREEMAN
October 18, 2023 at 12:20 PM
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Top cast
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Well Executed comedy.
Not Terrible, But Not Great
The concept is good, the performances are good, but this film is too uneven to be great. Writer/director Jonathan Kesselman should've watched the much better blaxploitation parody "I'm Gonna Git You Sucka!" a few times and thought harder about *why* it's a good parody. Even then, that film, too, could have been improved.
When you do satire, you get the best results when you stick pretty closely to your target. The funniest moments in "The Hebrew Hammer" are those in which it really mirrors blaxploitation films. When it degenerates into really broad parody, lame social commentary, and random jokes about Jewish stereotypes, it goes downhill quickly.
That's too bad, because the principle cast really does do an excellent job. The villains are weaker than the heroes -- conceptually and by performance -- but I can't really blame the actors (much as I might be tempted to blame Andy Dick) because the villains are *too* over-the-top just as they're written.
Satire works as comedy because it keeps moving back and forth over the line of plausibility -- or, at least, the line of genre convention. "The Hebrew Hammer" has many good moments but, in the end, it strays too far, too often. There's about thirty minutes of really good material in there.
Oye vei!!
"The Hebrew Hammer", is all about Goldberg as the certified circumcised private dick title character, a Jewish combination of Shaft, Superfly, and Mike Hammer, who sets about to defeat an evil Santa Claus who has sworn to put an end to Hanukkah. A campy, silly, an occasionally outrageous slam fest, this flick takes potshots at Jews, Afro-Ams, and white gentiles as our not-so-super-hero goes after Santa armed only with a babe, big guns, and guilt trips. What the film lacks in class and production value it almost makes up for with nonstop kosher comedy of the same ilk at Scary Movie, Naked Gun, Airplane, etc. Only for those into wacky slampoons who aren't concerned with political correctness. (B-)