Exporting Raymond - 3 smiles

The sitcom form didn’t exist in Russia until Sony agreed to send scripts of I Dream of Jeannie, The Nanny and Married… With Children to be adapted for Russian audiences. “Exporting Raymond” offers a humorous inside view of what goes on behind the scenes as this beloved US hit gets retooled for the Russian market. Against all odds, Everybody Loves Kostya goes on to become the No. 1 show on Russian television, which gives this culture-clash documentary an uplifting conclusion. The real key to the doc’s appeal, however, is its writer/director Phil Rosenthal, creator of the long-running CBS sitcom. Sent to Moscow to supervise development, Rosenthal took along a small crew to document the events. No one will deny the importance of Ray Romano and the chemistry of his cast-mates in making Raymond such a hit. But exposure to Rosenthal reveals just how much of his persona went into Ray’s character along with Rosenthal’s bickering parents’ influence on Marie and Frank.

The biggest problem Rosenthal encounters, which underscores the difficulty of finding cultural equivalents in humor, is that the Russians don’t find the family dynamic a source of humor. The Russian director and writers insist on making Kostya more assertive and less henpecked. The costume designer wants Kostya’s wife to be more of a fashionista, cleaning house in cashmere and heels. And since Rosenthal’s show relies more on deadpan verbal comedy rather than on the broad pratfalls the Russians are used to, Rosenthal has a fight on his hands. Nonetheless, Rosenthal navigates the cultural divide with wry humor (and a lot of whining) as he finally comes to understand that he has to relinquish some control because, after all, how he feels about the show’s development is immaterial. On the other hand, viewing clips from the American version with their reworked Russian versions is highly entertaining as is his encounters with his enigmatic driver, Eldar, who takes Rosenthal on a not-so-fun tour of a Soviet munitions museum. 4/30/11