Adina Bernstein

Sometimes, comedy’s purpose is more than a good laugh. It is able to make a point as few things can.
This year is the 40th anniversary of 9 to 5. Looking back on the last four decades, it is obvious to me why it wasn’t just your average workplace comedy. It was and still is a message movie. But the message is built into the laughter, making it more potent and therefore leaving its mark on the audience.
The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same
These days, we don’t think twice about ...

When a film is labeled as “classic”, there is a certain something about it. Entertaining and inspiring multiple generations of audiences, its success goes far beyond the initial response from moviegoers. Unfortunately, this sometimes inspires those in power in Hollywood to try to replicate that certain something, for better or for worse.
One of my favorite classic movies is Sabrina (1954). It is, in my mind, the quintessential Audrey Hepburn film. Though the narrative is the standard rom-com,...

Seemingly every year, Hollywood looks to the past for inspiration. Specifically, the spotlight falls on successful movies and television shows from previous decades. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the 1960s and 1970s were fair game, just like 1980s and 1990s revivals are in vogue now. However, that does not mean every reboot or revival is wanted or worthy of its source material.
On the surface, creating one is easy. The basic narrative and characters already exist. There is no need to bui...

For most, if not all of us, fairy tales are part and parcel of the fiction we are introduced to when we are young. Tales of kings and queens, princes and princesses tell us what we think we know about royalty. In the real world, they are just human beings like the rest of us. By a twist of fate, they were born and/or married into a life that is both romanticized and complicated. The King’s Speech gives the audience a view of this world that few outsiders have seen.
An Unlikely King with Imper...

War is complicated. Humanity is complicated. Put them together and there is a perfect storm of destruction and loss of life. But satire has a way of allowing us to both laugh and think clearly. In 1940, as World War II started to consume Europe, legendary comedic actor Charlie Chaplin released his most influential and successful film, The Great Dictator.
Charlie Chaplin: A Visionary Filmmaker
Some within the world of Hollywood see what they do as merely a job. Which, in fact, it is. They show...

There has always been a double standard when it comes to what happens in the bedroom. Men can do whatever they want and no one bats an eye. Women, however, are bound to a strict list of rules. If for any reason, a woman should step out of line, she is given all sorts of unlikeable names. But, if she does stay within the boundaries that she is taught to obey, she is identified by another set of equally unlikable names.
Back in 2010, Easy A hit theaters. Following the trend in the late 1990s an...

High school movies are a dime a dozen. Every generation has more than enough high school movies to call their own. But, like any genre, some movies are forgettable and there are other movies that last long after they have left theaters.
In 1995, Clueless hit theaters. At the time, it initially appeared to be a generic teenage film with the same character tropes and narratives that audiences were used to seeing. Instead, it became an instant classic. 25 years later, it is beloved, re-watched, ...

The story of the underdog is one of the oldest stories in human history. It has inspired countless people over the generations to go for what they want, despite the obstacles that stand in their way. But the problem with this narrative is that it is too common. For a film with this basic story to succeed, it has to stand out from the pack. Enter Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga, which premiered on Netflix on June 26th. Part absurdist comedy and part inspirational drama, this mo...

Since the beginning of history, writers have looked to the past to inspire them. The problem with this perspective is that when history fades into myth, the real person and the real story are often forgotten. While this allows for a certain amount of creative license, it also gives authors leeway to re-write that particular story based on their own values and point of view.
Back in 1995, Disney released its first historically based film, Pocahontas. The film is loosely based (and I mean very ...

Wartime comedies must walk a fine line. Obviously, they have to be funny. But they also have to fully present in a world in which war is the norm. In 1942, the original To Be or Not to Be premiered. In 1983, the reboot hit theaters. Both told the story of a Polish theater group that is pulled into the resistance to fight against the invading Nazis. The question is, which film is better?
The 1942 Version
There is a certain something about comedies (especially the romantic comedies), from about...

Since the advent of computer technology in the last few decades, world-ending movies have become a staple of the Hollywood blockbuster. In 1998, Armageddon and Deep Impact were released within a few weeks of each other. Both told the story of a comet or asteroid racing toward Earth, promising the destruction of every living creature. The question is, do these films with very similar narratives stand out, or are they just two prominent examples of lazy storytelling coupled with eye-popping spe...

It has been said many times that life imitates art and art imitates life. In 2011, the film Contagion hit theaters. At the time, it was just a movie about a virus that had the capacity to wipe out humanity. Who could have predicted that nearly a decade later, the narrative of this film would hit a little too close to home with the emergence of COVID-19?
The movie starts innocently enough (as they usually do). Beth Emhoff (Gwyneth Paltrow) has just returned from a routine business trip in Asia...

The opening paragraph of Jane Austen’s 1815 novel Emma is as follows:
“Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition, seemed to unite some of the best blessings of existence; and had lived nearly twenty one years in the world with little to distress or vex her.”
Emma Woodhouse is the quintessential rom-com character. The queen bee of her world, she thinks that when it comes to love and romance, she knows everything that she needs to know. She has no...

When I was about ten or eleven, someone gave me a child’s abridged version of Louisa May Alcott’s classic novel, Little Women. The story of the March sisters growing up in Civil War-era Massachusetts left a mark on me that has lasted for decades. A few years later the 1994 Gillian Armstrong adaptation was released into theaters and I knew that I would have a lifelong love affair with this novel. The most recent adaptation, directed and written by Greta Gerwig was just released on Christmas Da...