Jewish films and Godzillas galore top the slate this week.
The 46th annual San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, celebrating Jewish cinema, culture and identity, opens Thursday with 60-plus films from 17 countries on tap. Venues are the Castro Theatre, Herbst Theatre, Roxie Theater, Jewish Community Center of San Francisco and Landmark’s Piedmont Theatre in Oakland. The event runs through Aug. 2. Presented by the Jewish Film Institute, the annual festival is known for its diverse, adventurous programming.
“Tell Me Everything” opens the festival at the Herbst Theatre on Thursday. A 12-year-old boy makes an upsetting discovery about his father in this Israeli drama directed by Moshe Rosenthal. “We Met at Grossinger’s,” screening Aug. 1 at the Piedmont, is the closing night attraction. Filmmaker Paula Eiselt explores the Borscht Belt in the Catskill Mountains — a former summer haven for Jews experiencing antisemitism — in the documentary. Also spotlighted is “Where To?,” Assaf Machnes’ Berlin-set drama about a Palestinian Uber driver and a young Israeli who form a bond, screening July 19 at the JCC and July 30 at the Piedmont. Special honorees include actor-comedian Rachel Bloom, recipient of the festival’s 2026 Freedom of Expression Award. “Hollywood Does Abortion,” executive-produced by Bloom, screens July 18 at the Castro and July 31 at the Piedmont. There’s lots more. Visit sfjff.org for a complete schedule and ticket information.
SF Godzillafest returns to the Balboa Theater in San Francisco, presenting more than 20 movies starring or inspired by the indomitable sea monster. Screenings are Friday through Sunday, beginning at 2 p.m. Friday with “Godzilla, King of the Monsters!” (1956), the extremely Americanized version of the 1954 Japanese original, which addressed the human effects of the atomic bombing. Also screening are “Godzilla 1985” (1985), “Destroy All Monsters” (1968), “Godzilla vs. Megalon” (1973), “Son of Godzilla” (1967) and “Godzilla vs. Gigan” (1972), to name a few. Festivities also include toys, trivia and prizes. Visit balboamovies.com for a schedule and other information.
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts welcomes Criterion Collection curatorial director Ashley Clark at 6 p.m. Friday, who will sign copies of his new book, “The World of Black Film: A Journey Through Cinematic Blackness in 100 Films.” The evening also includes a screening of Zeinabu irene Davis’ “Compensation” (1999) and a post-screening talk with Clark and Davis. Visit ybca.org.
“The Invite,” currently in Bay Area theaters, is a smart, funny and unexpectedly moving comedy about sex, marriage and pleasure, and the best release to date from filmmaker-actor Olivia Wilde (“Booksmart,” “Don’t Worry Darling”).
Written by Will McCormack and Rashida Jones and adapted from the Spanish film “The People Upstairs,” the movie is a four-hander set almost entirely in a San Francisco apartment. Its inhabitants are the unhappily married Joe (Seth Rogen) and Angela (Wilde). He’s a grumpy failed musician who teaches at a non-prestigious college. She’s got an art degree that she’s never used and, clearly depressed, is frequently redecorating. The two barely communicate.
Joe balks when learning that Angela has invited their cool, confident new neighbors — sexologist Pina (Penelope Cruz) and former firefighter Hawk (Edward Norton) — to dinner. Joe plans to take the couple to task for their noisy lovemaking, a subject the movie has fun with. The evening heats up when Pina and Hawk reveal that they frequently host sex parties, and they invite the stunned but intrigued Joe and Angela to take part. A swap session proves chaotic, confrontational, sensual, zany and disastrous.
Wilde adroitly handles the tonal shifts, and her movie contains sparklingly talky material along with the carnality. She draws stellar work from her cast. Rogen is comic gold; Cruz, who delivers the closest thing the movie has to a climactic big speech, is magnetic; Norton and Wilde, too, create three-dimensional characters who surprise. And the ambiguous ending contains a poignancy that might make you cry.
Combining goofy energy with a “Wizard of Oz”–inspired plot, “Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass,” directed by David Wain (“Wet Hot American Summer”), is a mindless, wacky romp that aims solely to make people laugh, and that’s fine. But the movie, currently in Bay Area theaters, isn’t nearly as funny as it purports to be.
Zoey Deutch portrays Gail Daugerty, a chipper Kansas hairdresser. Gail and her fiance, Tom (Michael Cassidy), have an arrangement by which each is allowed to cheat on the other with one chosen celebrity. After Tom takes advantage of the deal by bedding Jennifer Aniston (playing herself), Gail decides it’s her turn. In Los Angeles with colleague Otto (Miles Gutierrez-Riley) for a hairstylist convention, Gail pursues her own celebrity pass: actor Jon Hamm. Searching for Hamm (who plays himself) in La La Land, Gail and Otto acquire companions: a washed-up paparazzo (played by cowriter Ken Marino), a low-level talent agent (Ben Wang), and actor John Slattery (playing himself), Hamm’s real-life “Mad Men” costar.
Obstacles arise when a switched suitcase lands Gail in a deadly situation with a Wicked Witchy crime boss (Sabrina Impacciatore). The movie has moments. The frustrated mailman (Fred Melamed) who narrates is an enjoyable presence. Slattery’s transformation from Cowardly Lion to action star is nutty fun. But the story is too preposterous and the characters too dumb for credibility. The swapped suitcase is a cliche. A bit involving a door closing on a foot repeatedly is tediously unamusing. The perky Gail is too shallow to take seriously.
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