''Oy Vey! My Son Is Gay!!'' is a 2009

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

directed, co-written, and produced by

Evgeny Afineevsky Evgeny Mikhailovich Afineevsky (Russian: Евгений Михайлович Афинеевский; born October 21, 1972) is an Israeli-American film director, producer and cinematographer. He has an Academy Award nomination and Emmy ...

and starring

Lainie Kazan Lainie Kazan (born Lainie Levine; May 15, 1940) is an American actress and singer. She was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series for '' St. Elsewhere'' and the 1993 Tony Award for Best Featured Actr ...

Saul Rubinek Saul Hersh Rubinek (born July 2, 1948) is a German-born Canadian actor, director, producer, and playwright. He is widely known for his television roles, notably Artie Nielsen on '' Warehouse 13,'' Donny Douglas on ''Frasier'', Lon Cohen on ''A N ...

Vincent Pastore Vincent Pastore (; born July 14, 1946) is an American actor. Often cast as a mafioso, he is best known for his portrayal of Salvatore "Big Pussy" Bonpensiero on the HBO series ''The Sopranos''. Early life Pastore was born to an Italian-America ...

John Lloyd Young John Lloyd Mills Young (born July 4, 1975) is an American actor and singer. In 2006, he won the Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical for his role as Frankie Valli in Broadway's ''Jersey Boys''. He is the only American actor to date to ...

Jai Rodriguez Jai Rodriguez is an American actor and musician best known as the culture guide on the Bravo network's Emmy-winning American reality television program ''Queer Eye for the Straight Guy''. He has also co-authored a book with the other ''Queer ...

Bruce Vilanch Bruce Gerald Vilanch (born November 23, 1948) is an American comedy writer, songwriter and actor. He is a two-time Emmy Award-winner. Vilanch is best known to the public for his four-year stint on ''Hollywood Squares'', as a celebrity participan ...

, Fred Swink and

Carmen Electra Tara Leigh Patrick (born April 20, 1972), known professionally as Carmen Electra, is an American actress, model, singer, and media personality. She began her career as a singer after moving to Minneapolis, where she met Prince, who produced h ...

. The theme song, "The Word Is Love" was written by

Desmond Child John Charles Barrett (born October 28, 1953), known professionally as Desmond Child, is an American songwriter and producer. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2008. His hits as a songwriter include Kiss's "I Was Made for Lovi ...

and performed by

Lulu Lulu may refer to: Companies * LuLu, an early automobile manufacturer * Lulu.com, an online e-books and print self-publishing platform, distributor, and retailer * Lulu Hypermarket, a retail chain in Asia * Lululemon Athletica or simply Lulu, a C ...

. "The Word is Love" was contending for nominations in the Original Song category for the

82nd Academy Awards The 82nd Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best films of 2009 and took place on March 7, 2010, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles beginning at 5:30 p.m ...

. The film concerns an interfaith relationship. An adult Jewish man

comes out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBT people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. Framed and debated as a privacy issue, coming out of ...

to his parents as gay. They try to come to terms to it, but are displeased that their son's boyfriend is not Jewish.

Plot

Twenty-five year old real estate agent Nelson Hirsch is having problems telling his overbearing Jewish parents—Martin and Shirley Hirsch—that he is gay, let alone in a loving relationship, not only with a man, Angelo Ferraro, but a non-Jewish one. However, he and Angelo have made a time sensitive pact to tell their respective parents about their relationship. It becomes even more complicated as, out of circumstance, Nelson discovers that his mother—and thus by association his father—believe the new significant other in his life is not Angelo, who they assume is solely his decorator, but rather Nelson and Angelo's neighbor, Playpen Playmate of the month, Sybil Williams. That complication is exacerbated by the fact that his mom will only hear and see what she wants to, which in this situation is coming to terms with Nelson being in love with a

shiksa ''Shiksa'' ( yi, שיקסע, translit=shikse) is an often disparaging, although not always, term for a Gentile woman or girl. The word, which is of Yiddish origin, has moved into English usage and some Hebrew usage (as well as Polish and Germa ...

who takes her clothes off in public. When Nelson is finally able to tell his parents the truth, Martin and Shirley (who have their own slightly different preconceived notions about homosexuality), have to find a way to come to terms with it. The couple are concerned about how their friends and relatives will react; they are especially concerned about Martin's macho employer, his Uncle Moisha, and Shirley's brother and sister-in-law, Max and Sophie. Equally as difficult is relating to Angelo's Italian parents, Carmine and Terry Ferraro, who have their own issues in dealing with Angelo and Nelson's relationship. Nelson and Angelo's time-sensitive issue advances their relationship to the next level, with the potential to turn the world of this collective group further on its head.

Awards

* Official Selection 26th annual Boston LGBT Film Fest 2010 * Charlotte Gay & Lesbian Film Festival 2010 ** Festival Special Award * Official Selection Filmfest Hamburg 2010 * FilmOut 2010 ** Best Actress in a Feature Film – Lainie Kazan ** Best Direction – Evgeny Afineevsky ** Best Narrative Feature - Evgeny Afineevsky / Svetlana Anufrieva ** Best Actor in a Supporting Role – Saul Rubinek ** Freedom Award – Ensemble Cast in a Feature Film * Fire Island Pines International Film Festival 2009 ** Spotlight Award - Evgeny Afineevsky * Fort Worth Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival 2010 ** Rising Star Award – Evgeny Afineevsky * 13 Annual Jewish Film Festival In Miami 2010 ** Audience Award for Best Feature Film * LesGaiCineMad – Madrid International LGTB Film Festival 2010 ** Special PUBLICO Award LesGaiCineFamilia (Special Audience Award LesGaiCineFamilia) * 24th Festival Mix Milano 2010 ** Premio speciale del pubblico (The Audience Award) * Monaco Charity Film Festival 2008 ** Award for Best Original Comedy Screenplay - Evgeny Afineevsky * Official Selection

Montreal World Film Festival The Montreal World Film Festival (WFF; french: le Festival des Films du Monde) was one of Canada's oldest international film festivals and the only competitive film festival in North America accredited by the FIAPF (although the Toronto Internat ...

2009 * Official Selection 32

Moscow International Film Festival The Moscow International Film Festival (russian: Моско́вский междунаро́дный кинофестива́ль, translit. ''Moskóvskiy myezhdunaródniy kinofyestivál''; abbreviated as MIFF) is the film festival first h ...

* New York International Independent Film & Video Festival 2009 ** Best Ensemble Cast in a Feature Film Award ** Audience Award for Best Feature Film * 6th

Philadelphia QFEST Philadelphia QFest was founded in Philadelphia as the Philadelphia Gay and Lesbian Film Festival by TLA Entertainment Group in 1995. It was given its current name, QFest, in 2009. One of the festival's founders and current Artistic Director, Raymond ...

2010 ** Audience Award winner - Best Comedic Feature * Official Selection 28th Reeling Chicago Film Festival 2009 * Official Selection Rochester ImageOut 2010 *

Tampa International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival The Tampa International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival is a movie screening event that takes place each October in Tampa, Florida. The primary venue is the Tampa Theatre, but several other cinemas in or near the downtown area and in St. Petersburg si ...

2010 ** Outreach Award – Evgeny Afineevsky * Official Selection 19th

Tokyo International Lesbian & Gay Film Festival Rainbow Reel Tokyo (Japanese: レインボー・リール東京 ''Reinbō rīru Tōkyō''), until 2016 known as Tokyo International Lesbian & Gay Film Festival, (Japanese: 東京国際レズビアン&ゲイ映画祭 ''Tōkyō kokusai rezubian to ge ...

2010 * 25th Turin LGBT Film Festival 2010 ** Audience Award for Best Comedy Feature Film * WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival 2008 & 2010 ** Best Comedy - Adaptation or Original Screenplay - Evgeny Afineevsky ** First Directors Crystal Vision Special Jury Award - Evgeny Afineevsky ** Silver Remi Award - Evgeny Afineevsky ** Special Jury Rising Star Award - Evgeny Afineevsky

References

External links

* * * * {{rotten-tomatoes, oy_vey_my_son_is_gay, Oy Vey! My Son Is Gay!! 2009 films 2009 comedy films 2009 LGBT-related films American LGBT-related films Films directed by Evgeny Afineevsky LGBT-related comedy films Films about Jews and Judaism Gay-related films American interfaith romance films Films about Italian-American culture Films with screenplays by Menahem Golan 2000s English-language films 2000s American films