Cupcakes

Director Eytan Fox's enjoyably kitschy Israeli confection celebrates and satirises TV song contests. Efrat Dor plays the frustrated songwriter persuading her pals to form a group to show the executives running a Eurovision-style show how it should be done. Amazingly, the Cupcakes get selected to go to the final. But before taking to the stage in Paris, each member has a problem to resolve: Baker Anat Waxman is striving to save her marriage; nursery schoolteacher Ofer Shechter hopes to persuade his clean-cut boyfriend to come out; lawyer Yael Bar-Zohar vows to ditch her adulterous boss; blogger Keren Berger needs to assert herself; and political aide Dana Ivgy is committed to standing up to her stern father and a credit-stealing cabinet minister. For sure, there are too many plotlines and too little depth of character, but the ensemble hams it up with evident glee. Moreover, production designer Arad Sawat and cinematographer Daniel Schneor have fun with the colour schemes, decor and costumes, while the catchy key song (composed by Scissor Sister Scott Hoffman) helps keep the action rattling along.