By BOB THOMPSON
Toronto Sun
Or you might say it's like Do Not Go Gentile Into That Goodnight, Sweetheart. Sometimes, Liberty Heights gets that goofy.
Generally, Levinson's droll yarn is smart fun in a not-so-frivolous package. It certainly is a worthy fourth instalment to the impressive Levinson series of Baltimore-based 1950s character ensembles.
There was Diner, the post-teen-men-as-adolescents profile. Tin Men slyly dealt with how America sold itself out. Avalon was the multi-generational immigrant all-in-the-family comedy-drama.
Liberty Heights combines all three themes with commendable results.
On the surface, Liberty examines life with a burlesque-running bookie, Nate, and his two sons, college guy Van and high school boy Ben. Individually, father and sons each discover things about themselves and the ever-changing times.
In the process, Levinson revisits the impact of anti-Semitism, racism and class elitism in folks of all colours and backgrounds.
Serious stuff, but there are more laughs than frowns.
As the rebel without a pause, Ben (Ben Foster) falls for a black girl in his class, then dresses up as Hitler at Halloween. The cool Van (Adrien Brody) tries to meet an upper-crust blond co-ed, but inadvertently becomes buddies with her boyfriend.
Nate (Joe Mantegna) loses his bookie business to a small-time black drug pusher, then struggles to get his illegal gig back, while being supported by his stay-at-home wife (Bebe Neuwirth).
All three of those Liberty Heights vignettes -- the bookie, college guy and high school boy -- arrive with separate story lines and orbiting friends with quirky things to do and say. Familiar? It should be. Some scenes and some circumstances come across as deleted moments from Diner, Tin Men and Avalon.
To put a fine point on Levinson's finely-woven winking tribute -- I guess that would be to himself -- the diner in Diner has a cameo.
Crazy. But so is the odd contradiction that is the seriously sweet Liberty Heights.
Defining it perfectly? One witty but jarring sequence has Ben and his friends humorously discussing the priority order of a country club sign. It reads, "No Jews, Dogs or Coloureds Allowed."