The New Jew Review image-id:174 image-id:173 image-id:172 image-id:171 2005 Hostel Joshua as Stunted Adult Josh (Derek Richardson) wakes up handcuffed to a chair in a dungeon-like room somewhere in Eastern Europe only to be tortured by the Dutch Businessman (Jan Vlasak) he and friend Paxton (Jay Hernandez) met on a train while backpacking through Europe. Josh has his Achilles tendons sliced before seemingly allowed to leave, but learns the hard way that you need to be able to walk before you can run in this coming-of-age horror/satire.]]> image-id:169 2005 Hostel Joshua as Stunted Adult Josh (Derek Richardson) wakes up handcuffed to a chair in a dungeon-like room somewhere in Eastern Europe only to be tortured by the Dutch Businessman (Jan Vlasak) he and friend Paxton (Jay Hernandez) met on a train while backpacking through Europe. Josh has his Achilles tendons sliced before seemingly allowed to leave, but learns the hard way that you need to be able to walk before you can run in this coming-of-age horror/satire.]]> 1995 Clueless Joshua as Teen Dream Yeah, we know it was based on Pride and Prejudice, but in a certain sense Clueless can also be read as a polemic in behalf of the nice Jewish boy. After all, Cher Horowitz (Alicia Silverstone) ends up sucking face with her emo, Nietzsche-reading, ex-stepbrother Joshua (Paul Rudd) after finding out that her object-of-desire, “Christian,” (I’m not shitting you. That’s really his name) is gay.]]> image-id:168 1995 Clueless Joshua as Teen Dream Yeah, we know it was based on Pride and Prejudice, but in a certain sense Clueless can also be read as a polemic in behalf of the nice Jewish boy. After all, Cher Horowitz (Alicia Silverstone) ends up sucking face with her emo, Nietzsche-reading, ex-stepbrother Joshua (Paul Rudd) after finding out that her object-of-desire, “Christian,” (I’m not shitting you. That’s really his name) is gay.]]> 1993 Searching for Bobby Fischer Joshua as Childhood Prodigy Based on the true story of Joshua Waitzkin, there was a natural irony that came with the story of an all-powerful chess master, with what seemed at the time, such an unpowerful name. Searching for Bobby Fischer foreshadows the coming of a new era when Joshuas on the big screen were becoming more fit for adulthood.]]> image-id:167 1993 Searching for Bobby Fischer Joshua as Childhood Prodigy Based on the true story of Joshua Waitzkin, there was a natural irony that came with the story of an all-powerful chess master, with what seemed at the time, such an unpowerful name. Searching for Bobby Fischer foreshadows the coming of a new era when Joshuas on the big screen were becoming more fit for adulthood.]]> 2001 Ghost World Joshua as Dysfunctional Adult Josh (Brad Renfro) is a listless convenience store clerk, whom Enid (Thora Birch) and Rebecca (Scarlett Johansson) get off on bugging. Passive and seemingly satisfied in his prolonged childhood purgatory, he finds himself easily cajoled into Enid and Rebecca’s various capers. I know, what a drag to have Scarlett Johansson bugging you to hang out with her. She could at least text you a naked picture of her or something.]]> image-id:166 2001 Ghost World Joshua as Dysfunctional Adult Josh (Brad Renfro) is a listless convenience store clerk, whom Enid (Thora Birch) and Rebecca (Scarlett Johansson) get off on bugging. Passive and seemingly satisfied in his prolonged childhood purgatory, he finds himself easily cajoled into Enid and Rebecca’s various capers. I know, what a drag to have Scarlett Johansson bugging you to hang out with her. She could at least text you a naked picture of her or something.]]> 2011 Tower Heist Joshua as Everyman When Josh Kovacs screams, “Let’s storm the castle together!” he is like the Joshua of the Biblical narrative storming the Walls of Jericho. Here, Stiller, who’s made a career playing the “Jewish male on the make” Proves himself to be the first fully-formed adult Joshua since, well, John Derek in Cecil B. DeMille’s Ten Commandments. No longer a child or a reluctant adult, this apotheosis almost had to happen in the backyard of Big’s Josh Baskin and Searching for Bobby Fischer’s Joshua Waitzkin. Where else but New York City for Joshua to grow up?]]> image-id:165 2011 Tower Heist Joshua as Everyman When Josh Kovacs screams, “Let’s storm the castle together!” he is like the Joshua of the Biblical narrative storming the Walls of Jericho. Here, Stiller, who’s made a career playing the “Jewish male on the make” Proves himself to be the first fully-formed adult Joshua since, well, John Derek in Cecil B. DeMille’s Ten Commandments. No longer a child or a reluctant adult, this apotheosis almost had to happen in the backyard of Big’s Josh Baskin and Searching for Bobby Fischer’s Joshua Waitzkin. Where else but New York City for Joshua to grow up?]]> 1992 Raising Cain Joshua as Traumatized Child John Lithgow stars as Cain, a schizophrenic murderer in this unfortunate misfire from Brian De Palma. A traumatized child named Joshua plays “Mother” to Cain’s Norman Bates, at least in part, inspiring the title character’s deadly rage. Like Big’s Josh, Raising Cain’s Joshua, shines a light on the vulnerability of their respective adult incarnations—albeit nowhere near as artfully.]]> image-id:162 1992 Raising Cain Joshua as Traumatized Child John Lithgow stars as Cain, a schizophrenic murderer in this unfortunate misfire from Brian De Palma. A traumatized child named Joshua plays “Mother” to Cain’s Norman Bates, at least in part, inspiring the title character’s deadly rage. Like Big’s Josh, Raising Cain’s Joshua, shines a light on the vulnerability of their respective adult incarnations—albeit nowhere near as artfully.]]>