Jeffrey is taking a meeting with a writer. Jeffrey (Campbell Scott) is a youngish, influential executive at one of the major Hollywood film studios

On the original “Saturday Night Live,” back in the days when you didn’t have to be embarrassed about admitting to watching it, John Belushi once did a bit as Italian schlockmeister Dino di Laurentiis, hawking his 1976 remake of King Kong. Asked why he would be so crass as to remake a film so dear to the hearts of so many moviegoers, Belushi bellowed, “Who cry when Jaws die? Nobody cry! When my Kong die, everybody cry!”

At a time of diminishing tolerance for any religion other than that celebrated by the loudest group in our country (woe betide the merchant who wishes his customers “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas”!), a film like Ushpizin serves as a welcome reminder that there are other faiths in the world, practiced by people who are not invalid for being reclusive. Whatever its value as entertainment, this is a groundbreaking movie for being the first to be made with the participation of Israel’s ultra-Orthodox community.

Is the new film version of C.S. Lewis’ famous children’s novel, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, a stealth Christian vehicle? Is there a religious message embedded within the fantastic adventure movie? Probably, but neither you nor the film’s young target audience need pay it much, if any, heed as the movie’s spectacle and fantasy narrative unfold.

From the moment we meet Meredith (Sarah Jessica Parker) you can’t help but hate her. She’s doing some last minute shopping in Manhattan with her fiancée Everett (Dermot Mulroney) before leaving for a Connecticut Christmas with his family. Clad in spiked heels and a snug but sexless black power dress that makes her look like some kind of post-apocalyptic insect, with her hair pulled back so tight it’s a wonder she can still bark into her cell phone, Meredith is an egregious stereotype of the Career Woman. She’s on the verge of demanding that her assistant work through the holidays when Everett tugs her away.