Norman: The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer Movie Review

The definition of a macher is one who get things done. Or it can be used to refer to a person who is overbearing, depending on the person being spoken of.

Norman Oppenheimer (Richard Gere) is a macher. The title character in the new film Norman: The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer, Norman calls himself a fixer. He often drops names of the wealthy and powerful in hopes of getting a foot into their world. When he buys expensive shoes for Micha Eshel (Lior Ashkenazi), a low-level Israeli government official, Norman has no idea how his world and his reputation will change in the next three years.

Written and directed by Joseph Cedar, this film has almost universal quality to it. Every culture, every religion has their own version of Norman. My problem is that despite the stellar cast, this film was for the most part unappealing. There were some laughs to be had, but not as many as I anticipated. Not that I expected a Marx Brothers-esque narrative, but I was hoping for a few more laughs.

Do I recommend it? I may have to lean toward no on this film.

Norman: The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer is presently in theaters.

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Thank You Ellen DeGeneres

Sometimes, for the world to change, it takes one brave person to step forward.

20 years ago this week, Ellen DeGeneres came out of the closet, both on-screen and in real life.

In an episode titled “The Puppy Episode”, Ellen comes out of the closet to her therapist (played by Oprah Winfrey), to her crush Susan (played by guest star Laura Dern) and to the world.

It was nothing short of world-changing. Coming out of the closet is far from easy, but Ellen made it that much easier. The influence of that single sentence heard around the world is priceless. Without Ellen, not only would LGBTQ fictional characters remain secondary characters, but people in the closet in real life might never have had the courage to be themselves and fight for their rights.

Thank you Ellen DeGeneres for being yourself and encouraging others to do the same. Our world is a better place because of you.