A Family Affair (Helen Lesnick)

What do you get when you propel a pale New York City Jewish dyke into sun-drenched waspish San Diego? Besides a culture clash, you get a witty, energetic romantic lesbian comedy and the dreaded "c" word – commitment! Rachel Rosen (writer/director Helen Lesnick) bolts from the East Coast after yet another breakup with her seductive girlfriend Reggie (Michele Greene). Surrounded by the love and affection of her gay friends, her sister-in-law Carol (Suzanne Westenhoefer) and her mom Leah (the very outlandish president of the San Diego chapter of PFLAG), Rachel embarks on finding "Ms. Rightowitz." After a disastrous series of hilarious blind dates, she reluctantly allows her mother to set her up with Christine (Erica Shaffer) and the two surprisingly hit it off.

In true lesbian fashion ("lesbians don't understand the concept of dating without living together"), the U-Haul is not far behind as the relationship blossoms rapidly from courtship to love to marriage. Rachel gets cold feet when Christine starts taking conversion classes and calling Leah "Mom," feeling familial pressures to settle down. The final straw is when Reggie enters the picture again fully intending to win Rachael back, but what's a girl to do? In the style of Woody Allen, A Family Affair cleverly uses Jewish schtick to delve into the complicated issues of commitment, acceptance, and religion.

Kelly Burkhardt