Plot Overview

Brighton Beach Memoirs is a comedy based off of the play by Neil Simon. The movie revolves around a Jewish family that lives in Brighton Beach Brooklyn, New York in 1937. It begins with the main character, Eugene Morris Jerome, reenacting what happened during a World Series game between the Yankees and Giants. His mother, Kate Jerome played by Blythe Danner, finds him and reprimands him. Eugene then continues to write in his book of memoirs and the audience can see him talking straight into the camera divulging his problems. Throughout the movie, Eugene narrates what happens and gives the audience background information to help give context to what is going on. The scene cuts to inside the Jerome’s house where Eugene’s widowed Aunt, Blanche Morton played by Judith Ivey, and his younger cousin, Laurie Morton played by Stacey Glick, are doing work. Since Blanche is widowed, Eugene’s dad, Jacob “Jack” Jerome played by Bob Dishy, had to get another job to support Blanche and her two daughters. Next, Kate, Laurie, and Blanche are seen sewing at the table discussing their neighbors the Murphys. Laurie says that Frank Murphy is interested in her mom, Blanche, and Kate shows her disinterest saying that the Murphy’s don’t keep a clean house and that Frank is a drunk. Eugene’s older cousin, Nora played by Lisa Walts, runs home with big news for the family. She says that she will be starring in a Broadway show which the family does not react well to saying that her education comes first. Eugene is the only person excited for the news, although this is mainly in part to the fact that Eugene is in love with Nora. Throughout the film the audience sees Eugene spying on Nora and trying to see her undress. After this Kate sends Eugene to the grocery store again for more food where he runs into his older brother, Stanley played by Brian Drillinger, where he tells Eugene that he has been fired from his job and the only way to get it back is to write a letter of apology to his boss. The audience finds out later on that Stanley gambles his salary to help the family and ends up losing it all. When Jack gets home isn’t in the best mood and tells Kate that the company where he got his second job went bankrupt and that he didn’t even get his paycheck for the week.

        After the family eats dinner, everyone goes to Jack to help with their problems. Nora is told by both Jack and her mom to finish high school first and that Broadway can wait.  Jack tells Stanley to write the letter because they can’t afford to be thinking about their principles right now. Later in the movie, Jack gets a mild heart attack and has to take a vacation from work. Blanche is waiting to go on a date with Frank when Nora leaves because she is mad that Blanche wouldn’t let her audition for the show. Blanche learns that Frank got into a car accident while drunk. Frank’s mother tells Blanche that they plan to move upstate to help Frank get better. The rest of the family problems unravel with Stanley telling Kate that he lost his salary, Kate having an outburst towards Blanche about how she has to always take care of her and that she is the reason that Jack got sick. Because of this, Blanche says that she’ll leave and find her own place to live, but ultimately stays. Nora comes back home and tells Blanche how she has always felt that Laurie was her favorite because she was sick and how she wanted attention as well. Stanley then “runs away” to join the army, but he hesitates and returns home the next day. At the end of the film, the entire family is seen happily eating lunch until Jack receives news that his cousins are coming to New York. However happy the Jerome’s are to hear this, this leads to the future question of if they’ll be able to house them in their current financial situation.

 

Reception of the Movie

The movie fared decently in ratings. It received a 70% on Rotten Tomatoes and 6.9/10 from IMDb. Acclaimed critic, Roger Ebert, gave the movie two stars. He believed the movie was “so plotted, so constructed, so written” to the point of blandness. The play, he thought, was much more riveting and “alive.” He attributed this to the director, Gene Saks, who directed both the play and movie. Plays were his forte, whereas movies were not. That’s why he believed the movie fell short. He also claimed the actors did not bring life into their characters, failing to give them a strong presence. On the other hand, critic Grace Montgomery of Common Sense Media gave the movie four stars. She found the witty humor and cliches to be “amusing.” As for the characters, she felt that they were very “relatable and genuine.” Overall, she enjoyed the film, claiming it was “a funny and poignant portrayal of the awkwardness of adolescence.” The IMDb rating of 6.9/10 is based off  2,730 reviews from IMDb users, or in other terms, regular people in society. That’s a fairly good rating, with better reviews from women, surprisingly. Most people seemed to agree with critic Montgomery, finding Brighton Beach Memoirs to be a sweet and light coming-of-age film.

 

Connection to Seminar Themes

Morals and Norms

Morals and norms have changed throughout time. At the time of the Great Depression, women had earned the right to vote not very long ago. Despite these political changes, the social sphere remained mostly the same. The norm of women as the head housekeeper and men as the main breadwinner continued. The movie, Brighton Beach Memoirs, is highly based off this societal norm. With Blanche’s husband dead, she’s utterly hopeless with no job and no place to stay. She must then rely on her sister, Kate’s, husband, Jack, to support her and her two daughters. As head male of the household, Jack must make all the decisions around the house. Everyone goes to him for advice and approval. He has to take on two jobs to support the family. Even the eldest son, Stan, is expected to work and contribute to the family. The women in the movie, on the other hand, are portrayed as typical housekeepers. Kate cooks, cleans, and takes care of the children. She is Jack’s support. Blanche stays home all day as well, sowing, cleaning, and taking care of her own children. The movie highlights this norm in society through the Jerome family to show how it affects their lives. Jack becomes ill from all the stress and burden as the only one working. Stan runs away from the pressure and disappointment of gambling all his money away. Blanche is emotionally distress and cannot find work. Kate is high strung from having to deal with all the children. This was the reality of the patriarchal society in the 1930s.

Immigration

Immigration is another theme touched upon in the movie. The movie was set right before World War II. There was a lot ethnic tension and fear. As a Polish-Jewish family, the Jeromes were highly critical of other immigrant groups. This is shown through the family’s view of the Murphy family, an Irish family who lives across the street. Whenever the Murphys are mentioned, Kate always attributes their dysfunctions and problems to their Irish background. She highly looks down upon her sister, Blanche, when she tells her she’s going to go on a date with Frank Murphy. Kate refers to them as “Irish hooligan” who beat up her sons at school. She finds them violent and unruly, unable to keep a clean house and abusing alcohol. Even Laurie, Blanche’s youngest daughter, explains how creepy old Mrs. Murphy is, giving her an odd green cookie. This prejudice outlook upon Irish people was not uncommon. When Irish people began immigrating to the US in large numbers, people did not take to it lightly. They blamed them for all that was wrong in society, whether it was increasing crime or unemployment. Brighton Beach Memoirs exhibits this outlook that plagued society at the time.

There is also the uncertain status of the Jerome family’s cousins in Poland. Jack and Kate are unsure as to whether or not they’ll be able to get out of Poland and if they do, they don’t know how they are going to house them considering their currently having trouble by themselves. The constant fear of not knowing if the Murphys will have to take in more family members or if they’ll get by on their own is consistent in the film. It isn’t until most of the problems the family is having get solved that the audience hears that the cousins are on a boat on course for New York.

At time 50:04, you could see Kate talking about her feelings on Frank Murphy and the Irish.