Loving Leah (GAM228)

Noah Lugeons

Heath Enwright

Eli Bosnick

***Loving Leah*** is the story of Hallmark proving it has one Jewish friend. So, that was fun—the friend was Ricki Lake, actually. I don't know, is she Jewish? Maybe. I don't know. But this movie is about the *positive* elements of female slavery that are built into orthodox Judaism. It's basically agreeing with Kanye West that slavery is a choice, but they're saying it's good one in this case, and it's terrifying.

### **Opening Phrase**

Where each week we sample another selection from Christian cinema, because otherwise giving up cigarettes would have been the least enjoyable thing I did all week.

### **How Bad Was It?**

Well, if you love Hallmark romantic comedies, but they lack the folksy charm of *Fiddler on the Roof* and the human chatteling of actual Judaism, you will *love* this movie.

### **Best Worst**

* Heath: ...choice for a Jewish-positive plot [Onan].
* Noah: ...misogyny.
* Rachel: ...accurate racism.
* Eli: ... understanding of Judaism, occasionally.

### **Notes**

* Check out Rachel as the best friend of Madge (Anna and Eli's pug). Also check out Rachel on her website, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and The Bash.
* Natasha Lyonne is great is *Russian Doll* and *Modern Vampires*.
* The doctor was *so* hot, with his piercing blue eyes and his crazy five o'clock shadow.
* Despite what Eli says at the end, this is not episode 227.

### **Jokes**

* Again, I hate to point this out, but—and I know that for most people Jews are adorable smelly dolls, but—this is actually incredibly dangerous. This is not something that she would be able to say to someone in the community. They made a documentary about it [*One of Us*]. You can't just be like, 'I wanna get out into the big city!' It's not like dyeing your hair a different color amongst your friends. No, she would be immediately shunned and cut off by her family. Yeah, or kidnapped by some of the religious elite, and then starved until she promised not to do it again. But don't worry, this movie is not going to acknowledge that, this movie is going to treat it like she's decided to open up her own cupcake restaurant or whatever it is women do in Hallmark movies." (28:37)
* "[Heath: What's a mezuzah?] It's a little wheel that you put a little bit of yarn around, and then your mother wraps a single thing of yarn round around *it*, and then you have to put it underneath your bed every night, and then when you die they unwrap the yarn around it. [Rachel: None of was true. That was a lie.] [Heath: I feel like you're tricking me into doing something that, like… I'm going to look ridiculous later. Is that real?] No, it's a very important Jewish tradition. [Rachel: No, he is lying to you.] How dare you Rachel! We could have convinced so many non-Jews listening to this podcast right now. They'd have been like 'Yeah, I heard… they got a wheel thing, and their mom wraps it too. They double wheel it—that's what they do.' [Heath: Okay, now I honestly don't know whether this was a bluff or not.] It's a thing we put on the door. So, you know in the part of Leviticus where he's like 'Bind it as a sign upon your hand, and on your forehead, and write it on the door post to your house'? [Heath: Yeah.] So, Jews—who have no sense of metaphor—literally take that text, write it down, and then put it in a magic box that they have to kiss every time they enter and leave a building. And that *is* real, and is only slightly less crazy than the wheel of yarn." (45:49)

### **Interstitials**

* Script meeting for "the first ever 'J-word' Hallmark movie." (10:08)
* Noah has to leave (18:03)
* From the makers of *Loving Leah* comes *Room*. (54:07)
* "So, your brother's ex-wife is going to live with you?" (1:21:43)

### **Tropes**

* Disappointing Hallmark Celebrity
* Jingly Keys!
* Make Me a Sammich!
* Minority Best Friend
* Neglectful/Godless /Abusive Parent
* Not Jewish Enough
* Pearl Clutching
* RACISM!
* SEXISM!

### **Links**

* Episode on Audioboom

Episode on YouTube

* Film on YouTube
* IMDB