“Don’t Say Good Luck” is about a Jewish theater kid and we simply can’t wait to watch it.
Back in July 2025, I wrote about “Don’t Say Good Luck,” a Happy Madison movie filming, in part, in a Jewish deli (specifically filmed in Livingston, NJ’s Nana’s Deli) and centering a very Jewish family with a very exciting (and pretty Jewish) cast.
Now we finally have a first look and release date for the Julia Hart-directed and Adam Sandler-produced movie.
So mark your calendars for Aug. 14, the height of summer, when this new movie will be hitting our TVs (or whatever screens we stream Netflix on, really).
“Don’t Say Good Luck” is titled after the very important superstition in theater — never say good luck before the play, say break a leg — which, as a theater kid and the daughter of a very superstitious Jew (pu pu pu, kinehora was a part of my daily vocab), always felt very Jewish to me.
The Netflix synopsis reads: “Sophie Birenbaum (Sunny Sandler) is ready for the spotlight as the lead in her high school musical — until suddenly she’s living with even more drama at home than on the stage.” The movie is based on a script written by author Laura Hankin and Jordan Horowitz and is based on a story by Hankin.
Sophie will be played by Adam Sandler’s youngest daughter, Sunny, who we already loved in Netflix’s “You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah.” The transition from onscreen bat mitzvah kid to onscreen Jewish theater kids just feels right. Sophie’s dad will be played by the very Jewish Max Greenfield, known for playing Schmidt from “New Girl” and most recently, jilted Nice Jewish Doctor Lev Levenson in “Running Point” (justice for Lev!). Her mother will be played by Melanie Lynskey, who isn’t Jewish but who recently starred in “The Tattooist of Auschwitz” as author Heather Morris. Sophie’s siblings will be played by 8-year-old Jewish twins Eitan and Matan Friedman — mazel tov to them on the big Netflix role!
The film also features Bebe Neuwirth, Steve Buscemi and Jon Lovitz, so there’s really a lot to be excited for. Netflix has promised this movie will be our new obsession. And Chandler Levack, the director of Happy Madison’s new and excellent “Roommates,” which stars Sadie Sandler (a producer on “Don’t Say Good Luck”) and was filmed in New Jersey at the same time as this film, commented that she thinks it’s going to “break the internet.”
This Jewish theater kid truly can’t wait!
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