“Just Abe.”

Torn between his mother’s (Dagmara Domińczyk) Israeli Jewish family and his father’s (Arian Moayed) Palestinian Muslim family, twelve-year-old Abe (Noah Schnapp) is only able to find joy in food and cooking.  After a particularly terrible birthday party with his paternal grandparents (Tom Mardirosian and Salem Murphy) and maternal grandfather (Mark Margolis) and great uncle (Daniel Oreskes), Abe spends the evening researching a fusion chef named Chico (Seu Jorge) online.  Fascinated by the way Chico combines different cultures through food, both at his street food stand and in the co-op kitchen where he teaches, Abe sneaks out to meet the chef.  Then when Abe realizes that his parents signed him up for an elementary-age cooking summer camp, he decides to spend that time working with Chico… if he can convince the chef to give him a chance.  The busy chef is reluctant to have anything to do with the boy, but Abe’s unstoppable interest in cooking and skill with flavor push Chico to give the boy a job at the co-op kitchen.  Initially assigned to washing dishes and taking out trash, Chico begins to show Abe proper cooking techniques and how to connect flavors.  While he hides his job from his parents and works hard to please Chico, Abe also tries to figure out how to reconcile the differences between both sides of his family.  Abe wants to please his family’s differing views, so much to his atheist parents’ disapproval, he begins trying to learn about what it takes to be a good Muslim and a good Jew.  Things go well for Abe until his parents find out that he’s been lying about summer camp, then everything seems to fall apart in his life.  Unable to stop his family from fighting any other way, Abe decides to create a Palestinian-Israeli fusion meal for Thanksgiving to finally bring all of his family together.

The movie has a very laid back, yet young attitude that works well together on every level.  Schnapp does a good job of easily showing his both character’s passion and heartbreak.  Abe is a unique story that highlights the the highs and lows of family, as well as the power in never giving up on a dream.

| Rated: NR | Running Time: 94 minutes |Genre: drama|

||Family Viewing||Cursing: 2 of 10|Nudity: 0 of 10|Sexuality: 0 of 10|Gore: 0 of 10

|AVAILABLE FOR HOME VIEWING|