“Having
decided to see the world,
as part of a dream retirement, an uptight
lawyer has to rethink his plans when
his mother emotionally blackmails him
into cancelling his expensive cruise
and getting his estranged children back
together again in the funny and well-
observed movie, Reuniting The
Rubins...”
HAPPILY CONTEMPLATING A WORLD CRUISE away from it all, finicky Jewish lawyer
Lenny Rubins (the evergreen Timothy Spall: Harry Potter Franchise; Sweeney
Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street; The King's Speech)
is about to board an ocean liner when he receives a message that sends him rushing
to his mother's hospital bedside.
Mrs Rubins (the wonderful Honor Blackman: Goldfinger) has suffered a
suspected heart attack and tells him he will have to abandon his trip or she
might be dead when he gets back. Furthermore, is her wish that Lenny should
get the whole family together again for Pasach, the Jewish holiday at Easter.
There is only one problem: Lenny knows his estranged children will never agree
to be together under the same roof. And he refuses to be manipulated by his
feisty mother.
He arranges to join the cruise further along the line, but another health scare
sends him back to his mother and he gives in to the inevitable. He agrees to
contact his children to try to persuade them to come to their grandmother's
gathering — who has even bought back the family house with her retirement
fund and booked herself out of the retirement home where she reluctantly lived.
Knowing that his children never willingly get together, it is up to Timothy
to forgo his retirement cruise, help to get the old family home into a liveable
condition and help to arrange his mother's party and persuade all his children
to be there and to behave themselves for their grandmother's sake.
Easy... Well, no — they hate each other. First of all, Lenny's OCD businessman
son Daniel (James Callis: Bridget Jones' Diary; Battlestar Galactica)
is an out-and-out capitalist who cares only about putting together his next
deal. Divorced, his former wife has just remarried and while she is on her honeymoon
he is left with his son Jake, for whom he never seems to have time.
Lenny's daughter Andrea (Rhona Mitra: Underworld: Rise Of The Lycans;
The Number 23) is an outspoken eco-warrior, utterly dedicated to the
cause and living in darkest Africa at a Rescue Centre deep in the Congo, and
despises Daniel; son Yona (Hugh O'Connor), or Jonathan, is a bible-bashing Rabbi
deep in the religious heart of Jerusalem, married to the bemused Miri (Louise
Brealey), who is expecting their third child; and Clarity (Asier Newman), is
an other-worldly Buddhist Monk.
Peas from the same pod they may be, but the resemblance stops there. And Lenny,
who also suffers from OCD, cannot understand his children at all. Are they even
from the same planet? When they are together it is survival of the fittest and
all-out war.
But is Lenny's mother genuinely ill or is she just trying to manipulate Lenny
into doing what she wants him to do? Having lost her own family during the war
in a concentration camp, she is determined that she will see her family reunited,
but not over her dead body! Can Lenny persuade his children to settle their
differences so that they can spend Pesach together or will he leave them all
to it and rejoin the cruise?
Although they do not see eye-to-eye, continue to pick quarrels and fight like
cat and dog and don't understand each other, they are still family. And it's
going to take a whole bundle of soul-searching and sacrifice for the entire
family to come together in this heart-warming, family comedy that will make
you think of your own family with a smile! One big family Crisis…
Persuading, cajoling and finally threatening, Lenny has reached the end of his
tether. Will his family fall into line? Discovering things he didn't even know
about his children, Lenny is trying to make them aware of the value of family.
Reuniting The Rubins is human, funny, tragic and heart-warming as a family
in crisis makes an hilarious attempt to sort itself out. The accusations fly!
Reuniting The Rubins also features: Blake Harrison (The Inbetweeners)
as Nick; Anna Brook as Louise; Claudia Coulter as Marta; James Vaughan as Michael
Brown; and Neil Conrich as Rabbi Cohen.
Original Music by Tim Atack; Director of Photography is Miles Cook; Executive
Producer is Ben White; Produced by Yoav Factor and Jonathan Weissler; Written
and Directed by Yoav Factor.
• Reuniting The Rubins spills over
onto DVD on 13 February, 2012. Running Time: 97 Minutes approx | RRP: £15.99
| Catalogue Number: KAL8146 | Barcode: 50601928 11452.
Extras — Interview with Timothy Spall | On Location With Reuniting The
Rubins | Q&A | Deleted Scenes.
"Reuniting The Rubins is human, funny, tragic and heart-warming as a
family in crisis makes an hilarious attempt to sort itself out. The accusations
fly!" — Maggie Woods, MotorBar
“Having
decided to see the world,