THE COBBLER (Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) Toronto Ontario Canada 2014)

Ben Meyers’ rating: 3.8|5.0 Stars ììì

The Cobbler—new, fresh, innovative—has the potential to become one of the outstandingly good, classic stories of our time. It lost a ton of money in theaters, but has the makings of a ‘sleeper’ film at the caliber of It’s A Wonderful Life. It has all the elements of a top-of-the-line Hans Christian Andersen tale that has just recently surfaced and it loses it all—in its presentation. There is no innocence in the film and that single factor breaks this movie. All the right things are present . It needs its remake to capture the innocence found in It’s A Wonderful Life or in the 1954 film Hobson’s Choice.

Film Poster Courtesy of Wikipedia

Storyline

Max Simkin (Adam Sandler), a Jewish cobbler , works diligently in the shop inherited from his father. He tries to do well by his customers and passes on good to the persons peopling his life. But, Max’s father never told him about the sewing machine in the basement, what it can do, and how that has impacted the Simkin family over generations of time. The story revolves around Max’s accidental discovery, the challenges brought to him by that discovery, and finishes with a completely unexpected twist that is positively magical.

Additional Thanks

Thank you to Executive Producer Michael Bederman, Nicolas Chartier, and Zev Foreman for allowing us to see the story. Additional cast includes: Jimmy (Steve Buscemi), Carmen Herrara (Melonie Diaz), Abraham Simkin (Dustin Hoffman), Sarah Simkin (Lynn Cohen), Leon Ludlow (Method Man), and Goldman (Elli).

Buy a ticket? Yes? No? Maybe?

Yes. This is not a family share film...it could have been and would have worked so well as a classic for the family home video library if it had been designed cleanly.

Video Critique Available Here:

Ben Meyers