Common Sense Media Review
By Brian Costello
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Ultra-crass comedy isn't funny; nudity, drugs, cursing.
Parents Need to Know
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Donny's Bar Mitzvah
What's the Story?
In DONNY's BAR MITZVAH, it's November 4th, 1998 -- Donny Drucker's day to celebrate this Jewish rite of passage. While his friends engage in "Truth or Dare," the adults play "Never Have I Ever." Everyone binge drinks, uses drugs, and some of the teens have sex with the adults. Donny believes that he's dating a classmate known at school as "Handjob Hannah," but messes up the budding relationship when he spreads a rumor to his frenemies that she has herpes. Meanwhile, the actor Danny Trejo is in the room working as an undercover agent disguised as an attractive African American woman. Donny wants to try to win Hannah back, but he can't figure out a way to do so until the valet at the party gets him stoned and drunk. Donny must find a way to apologize as all the adults and most of the teens and tweens get drunk while engaging in debauched behavior.
Is It Any Good?
It's nearly impossible to convey how horribly crass this movie is. Let's just say that Donny's Bar Mitzvah makes the Adam Sandler movies of the '90s seem like dour dramatic plays. Pretty much every profanity is used by everyone from tweens to teens to adults. Everyone is binge drinking and using drugs. Teens have sex with adults, and most sex acts are either performed or discussed. It's all in the name of humor, but the thing is, the movie's not funny. It's just offensive and tiresome.
Indeed, the glib and crass dialogue and behavior of these debauched characters grows tiresome within the first 10 minutes. There are some decent moments of satire, and the expected pop culture circa 1998 references to AOL, Caesar haircuts, Pop-Up Video, and the like. But any legitimately funny moments are overshadowed by countless examples of situations like the one in which a closeted gay teen offers to perform a sex act involving the backside of his best friend's closeted gay father. Everything is so gratuitous, obnoxious, and over the top, it's painful. Teens and adults should look elsewhere for laughs.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the gratuitous sex and profanity in Donny's Bar Mitzvah. Is it ever funny? Why do you think it features so prominently in the movie?
Why do you think some people find humor in movies that try to be as crass as possible?
How does the movie try to capture what it was like in the year 1998?
Movie Details
- On DVD or streaming : March 26, 2021
- Cast : Danny Trejo , John De Luca , Steele Stebbins
- Director : Jonathan Kaufman
- Inclusion Information : Latino Movie Actor(s)
- Studio : Circle Collective
- Genre : Comedy
- Run time : 79 minutes
- MPAA rating :
- Last updated : December 5, 2025
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