DOUGH film review

– By Cate Marquis –

‘Dough’ rises on simple human story, not flat humor

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

 

“Dough” is a warm-hearted little British dramedy starring Jonathan Pryce (“Pirates of the Caribbean”) as an old Orthodox Jewish baker who is struggling to keep his family’s bakery going, in a tough East End London neighborhood. When his assistant quits, Nat agrees to hire the teen-aged son of the bakery’s African immigrant cleaning lady, not realizing his new assistant is a Muslim.

While this is not a film for serious cinephiles, it has found an audience on the film festival circuit and is now making the leap to wider distribution. The gentle little cross-cultural comedic drama draws its appeal more from its likable characters and their believable relationships rather than its overly familiar plot or comedy, some of which is summed up in the film’s tagline “Dough: It’s not the only thing getting baked.” The charm of this crowd-pleaser is not the contrived humor or stiff subplots that motivate the characters but those surprisingly well-drawn characters, fine acting (by Pryce in particular), its gentle exploration of religious and cultural differences, and its underlying message about friendship and tolerance.

READ THE FULL REVIEW AT WE ARE MOVIE GEEKS:

http://www.wearemoviegeeks.com/2016/04/dough-review/

READ THE INTERVIEW WITH DIRECTOR JOHN GOLDSCHMIDT IN THE JEWISH LIGHT:

http://www.stljewishlight.com/features/article_27f9e5cc-0c97-11e6-8fa9-33783a85695c.html