What begins as a scathing but loving satire of materialism loses its way once it turns into a warmhearted after-school special about a nice young Jewish boy discovering the true meaning of the bar mitzvah.

A fresh and lovable comedy about a dysfunctional Jewish family planning their son's bar mitzvah.

Mazel tov to Scott Marshall for creating an endearing portrayal of familial lunacy that ought to charm as many Smiths as it will Steins.

To paraphrase the old ad for Levy's rye bread, you don't have to be Jewish to love "Keeping Up With the Steins," but it helps.

The tribute to an aging parent is moving and gives this routine comedy an extra something.

As director, Scott Marshall displays an unsurprising flair for selling a joke, but also a fine sense of dramatic pacing and, even better, a gift for brevity, neither of which, it could be argued, are innate skills of his famous filmmaking family.

What could have made for particularly potent satire in the hands of an Albert Brooks or a Christopher Guest arrives in the form of a politely benign family comedy by first-time director Scott Marshall.

A sure-fire audience-pleaser, Scott (son of Garry) Marshall's winning comedy bow could have been titled "My Big Fat Jewish Bar Mitzvah."

Maybe because director Scott Marshall is Garry's son, he allows his affable father to steal the movie from everyone else, and his performance proves to be a small gift worth having.

A sitcom with enough big laughs and emotional truth to get audiences past awkward pacing and some slow spots.

Blends humor with heart for a satisfying, if predictable, experience.

Despite problems of tone and tempo, Steins is appealingly cast.

Zakarin's semiautobiographical screenplay hits all the sitcom beats.

Keeping Up With the Steins would have been a much better film if it had waited twice as long before retracting its fangs.