comment #1

BlueStater says ...

I agree, as long as it is a left-leaning Jewish gambler from NY or California. Wouldn't want any red state types ruining the movie.

comment #2

Daniel says ...

Really, Jeff? You're pleased because the movie's called "Lucky You" and you were able to make that big creative LEAP to "Lucky Jew"? You must find those Weird Al songs side-splitting, man. It's called "Bad" but he sings "Fat"? HI-LARIOUS!

Other fine and equally creative leaps:

1)"Lucky Blue" - One lone Smurf is left behind enemy lines. Every other Smurf thinks he's been eaten by Azriel. But he hasn't. He comes back and everybody thinks he's a hero. Smurfette puts out repeatedly. When Gargamel attacks, the other Smurfs turn to him. He's a fraud. He admits it. In admitting his weakness he finds inner strength and defeats Gargamel.

2)"Lucky Crue" - The story of Motley Crue and the miraculous fact that despite all of the sex and drugs and rock-n-roll, they're all still alive. That's darned lucky.

3)"Lucky 2 Live Crew" - The story of a wildly untalented rap act that becomes insanely popular because right wing censors (and Tipper Gore) attempt to ban their music. Despite a lack of skillz, they become successful and thought of as political activists.

4)"Lucky Shrew" - Shakespeare's "Taming of the Shrew" only with the genders reverse. A woman makes a bet that she can tame the ultimate lady's man to win his wealthy father's dowery. In the end, she thinks she's tamed him, but they've really tamed each other.

5)"Lucky Shmoo" - The blob-like supporting character from the Hanna-Barbera cartoons enters our world through a dimensional vortex. He goes to Las Vegas, becomes a successful poker player and beds Drew Barrymore.

I'm not sure if this is any fun...

-Dan

comment #3

Noah says ...

I'm Jewish and I find the notion of "Lucky Jew" to be kind of offensive.

comment #4

Anonymous says ...

Only a goy like Wells would find that title amusing, Noah.

comment #5

Scott Weinberg says ...

You came up with "Lucky Jew" and thought it clever enough to feel "astonished"? Sheesh. And it just struck you now? Never dawned on you to break out the joke with Imagine Me & Jew, Jew Me & Dupree, Eye See Jew, Jew Me and Everyone We Know, Jew Got Mail, While Jew Were Sleeping, That Thing Jew Do, Thank Jew for Smoking, Everyone Says I Love Jew, I Know What Jew Did Last Summer, Jew Only Live Twice, Jew Got Served, and 10 Things I Hate About Jew? Aren't they HILARIOUS titles? C'mon, man.

Sometimes it's OK to just ignore some an idea that pops into your head, too.

Or can we soon expect "clever" new titles for The Trigger Effect, The Tigger Movie, and Gold Diggers?

comment #6

Arizona Joe says ...

I am sure a lot of people would find "Lucky Jew," to be offensive. Truth is, Jews can be as lucky as anyone else. I knew a Jewish bookmaker. He ran his business like the phone company. Once your tab got too high, you had to pay in order to make additional bets, otherwise you were cut off. No rough stuff. And he was a very lucky Jew, and a nice guy.

comment #7

Vince says ...

How about "The Gambler," the Karel Reisz/James Toback film from '74? James Caan's title character was Jewish.

comment #8

T.H. Ung says ...

Rim shot. This phrase was funny once when Marty Callner and Alan Shapiro used it describe themselves when they discovered and cast Alicia Silverstone.

comment #9

Anonymous says ...

Yeah, but too bad they cast in such an awful movie, THE CRUSH.

comment #10

Anonymous says ...

Hey you above, what does that have to do with anything? Awful or not, she was brilliant, they were lucky and the whole world was Jewish with them for that brief period of time.

comment #11

The Bishop of Digne says ...

Lots of negative comments, Jeff. Looks like this time, jew lose.

(See what I did there?)

comment #12

Michael says ...

Actually, I totally agree with Wells. I would definitely go see that film.

Lot of haters about the title, though...how did they feel about The Hebrew Hammer?

Shabat Shalom motherfuckers!

comment #13

Jeffrey Wells says ...

Wells to Weinberg: All those titles thrown together are obviously cheap and anti-Semitic. I wasn't trying to sound that way or think that way, and I didn't find "Lucky Jew" amusing. It just hit me as a grabbier title than "Lucky You." Not a title that suggested comedy (as I said, "not because it sounds like an impertinent Mel Brooks film") but because I would be more attracted to a title that had a nervy impudent tone to it...a title that was willing to risk some people's disdain...because any movie with a title like that would be a movie willing to take risks in other departments. That's why it hit me -- not, to repeat, as a great stand-alone title to be chosen from thousands of possibilities, but simply preferable to "Lucky You" because it has a more interesting ring. Because it sounds nervier, more daring. God...the trouble one can get into these days with the p.c. watchdogs by just riffing on an idea...it's amazing. I don't consider the word "Jew" to be a racial-tribal slur any more than "goyim" or "WASP." Does anyone? I'm imagining what Lenny Bruce would think about this discussion.

comment #14

T.H. Ung says ...

Lighten up Wells, Scott's post was cool and attempted to bring nigga into the discussion. So to summarize, you said, "I would simply want to see a movie about a Jewish gambler. I just would. It speaks to me. It sounds like rude fun." And we'll call it Lucky Jew. He he. Amen.

comment #15

NYCBusybody says ...

I find it amusing when far-lefties like Wells are perturbed by the insidiousness of political correctness, when it works against them.

Ya'll created a monster. One reaps what one sows.

comment #16

Anonymous says ...

Shabat Shalom at 6am on a Thursday is way more offensive than Lucky Jew anytime.

comment #17

Anonymous says ...

Wells said: "I don't consider the word "Jew" to be a racial-tribal slur."

Amen. Do Jews actually find the word "Jew" offensive? Talk about sensitive. Equating "Jew" with "Nigger" is outrageous. Come on.

comment #18

NYCBusybody says ...

Which brings up the point that as far as "slurs" go, calling someone a Southerner a "redneck" indiscriminately is no less offensive than calling a Mexican a "wetback". It's always been odd to me that our culture tolerates one, but not the other. Either both are offensive, or neither are.

comment #19

Anonymous says ...

How about 'Lucky Louie' ?

Damn ... thats already taken.

comment #20

Anonymous says ...

I don't think that addresses my point. Why is calling a Jewish person a "Jew" offensive? Is it no longer acceptable to use that widely used descriptor? It's all context, isn't it? "Lucky Jew" is a humorous play on words that seems completely inoffensive to me. Now, if we're talking about a movie called "Filthy Jew," well, then we have a problem.

comment #21

Walter Cronkite says ...

Hey Jeff, eat my ass. When you are done, Jew can blow me.

comment #22

NYCBusybody says ...

"I don't think that addresses my point. Why is calling a Jewish person a "Jew" offensive?"

If this anonymous poster was referring to MY comments, I certainly don't find "Jew" offensive. I suppose I wasn't even addressing your point because I agree with you.

Unless we have to start calling Jews "Hebrew-Americans".

comment #23

NYCBusybody says ...

I do wonder, though, whether Jeffrey would stand up to an angry NAACP if there was a movie coming out about a black gambler called "Lucky Black".

comment #24

Daniel says ...

While I know everybody loves going off on pro and con PC rants (NYCBusybody -- the minute a well-mobilized activist group of Southerners actually complains about the use of redneck and forces the issue in the form of threatened boycotts or whatever is the minute it will cease to be acceptable... That's just the way this all works), I'd like to emphasize something:

As a Jew, I wasn't the least bit offended by Jeff's use of "Lucky Jew." I don't imagine that he intended a slur or Anti-Semitism.

I was merely perplexed that despite the fact that "Lucky Jew" is neither the least bit funny nor the least bit enlightening as a concept, he thought it was worthy of a blog entry, particularly one with the lede, "Sometimes it's okay to just go with an idea that pops into your head. Because sometimes that idea can be astonishing. (And sometimes it can go the other way.)"

Well, this one wasn't astonishing. It went the other way.

And what Lenny Bruce would say is that if an idea is funny enough or profound enough, it transcends any concept of political correctness. If it isn't funny or profound enough, it just comes across as stupid. In my opinion, the great thing about political correctness is that it encourages people who want to discuss race in either seriousness or comedy to attempt to do so with intelligence and thought -- think about what you're saying, why you're saying it and who you're saying it about is all that political correctness urges. Intelligent debate is almost never attacked by those pesky PC Thugs the Right is always complaining about. Laziness, though, is always attacked.

Plus, I thought "Lucky 2 Live Crew" was a funny and astonishing movie idea.

comment #25

Jeffrey Wells says ...

Jew are correct. I am a dull-witted loser who ran my career into the ground, forcing me to post anal-retentive stream-of-consciousness rants online that confirm my lack of intellectual depth. Jew hit the nail on the head.

comment #26

NYCBusybody says ...

I don't think Southerners who are offended by being called rednecks will do that because the overriding culture is very hostile to them, and they wouldn't feel politically confident in their voice.

That and most of them aren't humorless liberals.

comment #27

NYCBusybody says ...

Still, Daniel (and I agree with you about the specific idea of political mobilization)...

If we're talking merely on a level of general principle, calling someone a redneck is equivalent to calling someone a wetback. All I was saying. Whether or not the group is politically active against the term, principle is principle, and it either applies to all or none.

comment #28

T.H. Ung says ...

Just caught Lucky Louie on HBO, I'd love to see the show try to wrap its head around either Lucky Jew or Nigga (hurry writers before it's canceled, it's kind of a brave show, but I don't think it has that much of a chance of survival unless it's shined up a bit, it looks like a taped play.)

comment #29

Anonymous says ...

Jeff singing the Beck loser anthem, "I'm a loser baby, so why don't you kill me." Make a cup of tea and get back to work, or take a day off and see how we cry about that, it's slow, it's August, you deserve a break, really, everything's gonna be fine. You ran your career into the ground and got a kick ass website with traffic and ads (do you get $ when you direct traffic to linked items?), you're your own boss, anyone worth a damn appreciates what you're doing, making history quite frankly. You did bald, you did jew, something else will come along. When more Miami Vice reviews come out, will it feel like such old news or can someone possibly say anything unique at this point or write it so well you don't mind hearing it all again? Keep us pointed, where's John Tucker?

comment #30

cadavra says ...

There is a fine line between calling someone "a Jew" and calling him "Jewish." The former does have a somewhat perjorative feel, since it is mostly used by bigots. But then again, I never understood why "people of color" is okay and "colored people" isn't.

comment #31

Josh Mooney says ...

"ALWAYS bet on black."

-- John Cutter

comment #32

cadavra says ...

"ALWAYS bet on red."

--Geronimo