You Don't Mess with the Zohan

Review By: Michael Dance
MichaelDance@TheCinemaSource.com

Remember that scene in Knocked Up in which Seth Rogen and his buddies confess their love for Munich because it's the closest a movie's ever gotten to having a Jewish action hero? "Every movie with Jews, we're the ones getting killed," Rogen raves. "Munich flips it on its ear!"

And thus the idea for You Don't Mess with the Zohan was born.

Written by Adam Sandler, Robert Smigel, and -- what a coincidence -- Knocked Up writer/director Judd Apatow, You Don't Mess with the Zohan features Sandler as the title character, an Israeli soldier who not merely an action hero -- we're in downright superhero territory here. He swims by skimming the water like a flying fish and can do push-ups without using his hands.

After a lively opening -- a fun send-up of one-man-against-the-world action movies in which Zohan infiltrates a Palestinian base (while casually arguing with his enemies about the Israel/Palestine conflict) -- the movie's plot gets in the way as Zohan fulfills his lifelong dream by moving to New York City and becoming a hairdresser.

That's kind of a shame, since the Israel scenes were legitimately original (for Sandler standards) and even gutsy; I had already gotten my fill of the by-the-numbers hairdresser plot from the previews, especially since it adds up to exactly one joke (Zohan finishes off each old lady's haircut by having sex with her) told a dozen or so times.

Typical Sandler-style archetypes appear, like the beautiful, bland love interest (this time a Palestinian hairdresser played by Entourage's Emanuelle Chriqui), the rich, corporate (and therefore evil) white guy (Michael Buffer), and yet another role for Rob Schneider. There are also more cameos than I could keep track of, from SNL vets like Kevin Nealon and Smigel to out-of-left field appearances like Dave Matthews, who's actually pretty funny. Sandler regular John Turturro appears as his Palestinian nemesis, the Phantom, but disappointingly we don't get any Steve Buscemi.

Sandler movies tend to not do as well when he sports an accent -- think Little Nicky -- because he's not playing his stock character (an average Joe with anger issues), but Zohan otherwise proves itself to be a very typical offering from the star.

I actually like Sandler a lot; I consider Happy Gilmore to be a comedy classic. And there are a handful of legitimately funny jokes. It's just that after nine $100 million + comedy vehicles, we kind of know what we're getting by now, and -- though it frightens me to say so -- I don't get nearly as excited as I got when I was fifteen. The Israel/Palestine thing enlivens the proceedings a bit, even though the end result is a very simplistic "can't we all just get along?" message.

Then again, I suppose if you aimed for any nuance at all, you're just asking for controversy. And a controversial Sandler vehicle? That's definitely hilarious.

Movie Grade: B

Synopsis:

A Mossad agent fakes ...