‘The Wedding Entertainer' is a comedy that will charm even nonbelievers - review

The Wedding Entertainer (The Tale of Moishe Badhan), which opened Thursday in theaters around Israel and which will open later in the US, is an enjoyable comedy with heart, set in the world of the ultra-Orthodox in Jerusalem.Even if you don't know anything about the whole subculture of Hasidic wedding entertainers, and even if you are not particularly inclined to see a movie about the ultra-Orthodox, because of the continuing controversy about their refusal to serve in the military, you can still have fun watching this movie.That's because The Wedding Entertainer is the latest collaboration by a very talented duo, director/writer Gidi Dar and actor/writer Shuli Rand, who have been working together for decades since they made Eddie King over 30 years ago.They are a kind of cinematic odd couple, since Dar is secular and Rand has been ultra-Orthodox for decades.But Rand grew up in a Modern Orthodox family and had a period when he was secular himself and starred in such films as Assi Dayan's Life According to Agfa. But after he embraced religion and joined the haredi community, he eventually found his way back to acting and began collaborating on scripts with Dar, as well as acting in his movies.The two have made several movies where Judaism is front and center, but which can be enjoyed by secular…