Mi Ha'Abba?

Farce, satire, and drama mix a little uncomfortably in this TV-style production. It is impossible (for Israeli audiences at least) not to like stars Dubi Gal and Nitza Shaul, but they're put through a sequence of coincidences and too-briskly-solved misunderstandings that jerk the movie along without letting it ever settle down. Uri Banai has an interesting role as a man who doesn't understand he has a problem with his temper, but the justification for his character's presence in the movie is skimpy, as is the justification for some of the gags. There is a certain element of satire directed at the civil service, and it's apt and successful, but it's far from the fore and also fails to tie in very closely to the main story. The main story seems to present Dubi Gal as a husband who is very involved with the kids and knows how to cook, thus breaking a masculine stereotype while his wife, for her part, has a job with the military; and then it seems to say that in fact he's not even very masculine biologically but that's okay too... not the message that the audience would expect. (We're more accustomed to being shown, more simply, that you can love the kids, cook, and be a he-man.)