You Don't Mess with the Zohan (2008)


You Don't Mess with the Zohan (2008)

You Don't Mess with the Zohan (2008)

You Don't Mess with the Zohan (2008)

You Don't Mess with the Zohan (2008)

You Don't Mess with the Zohan (2008)

You Don't Mess with the Zohan (2008)

You Don't Mess with the Zohan (2008)

You Don't Mess with the Zohan (2008)


You Don't Mess with the Zohan (2008)


Director: Dennis Dugan


Cast: Adam Sandler as Zohan Dvir, John Turturro as The Phantom / Fatoush, Emmanuelle Chriqui as Dahlia, Nick Swardson as Michael, Lainie Kazan as Gail, Ido Mosseri as Oori, Rob Schneider as Salim, Dave Matthews as James, Michael Buffer as Walbridge, Charlotte Rae as Mrs. Greenhouse, Keana Texeira as Rock-throwing Girl, Sayed Badreya as Hamdi, Daoud Heidami as Nasi, Kevin Nealon as Kevin, Robert Smigel as Yosi



Zohan Dvir is a legendary Mossad agent known for his unique skills and
indestructible nature but, unlike his current violent job, Zohan's
dream is to become a hairdresser and bless the world with the gift of
silky-soft and styled hair. He seems destined to never know this dream
though, until he decides to fake his own death during a battle with
Palestinian freedom fighter/terrorist The Phantom. One smuggled flight
later, Zohan arrives in New York to take up a position at the salon of
Paul Mitchell but finds that he cannot just walk into this world of
styling and washing. Refusing to work in an electric store, Zohan finds
work as a cleaner in a small salon run by a Palestinian woman, where he
waits his chance to prove his skills.

The unusual title and setting for the characters were enough to make me
forget that, ultimately, what I was about to watch was nothing more
than an Adam Sandler comedy. You see, mostly, when you come to a
Sandler comedy you know what you are going to get and have a feel for
whether or not it is your type of thing. Now the quality of his films
may vary but generally what he does and how he does it in most films is
pretty constant. However, Mossad agents who wish to pursue a dream of
hairdressing in the US is not one of his usual themes and somehow I
thought this might be more than just an Adam Sandler comedy as I have
experienced them in the past.

The film itself didn't allow me to sit in this misconception for very
long as from the very start we find ourselves with physical comedy and
jokes reliant totally on body parts and sex organs. This continues with
ongoing humour drawn from a young man having intercourse with elderly
women on a frighteningly regular basis. Of course if I still hadn't
worked it out, then what really reminds me where I am is that the
entire film is silly beyond belief but yet also still finds time for a
stunning young woman to fall for the main character no matter how
arrogant/stupid/unlikable he is - a persistent thread in Sandler films.
So, knowing what you are getting into is important but, once there,
what does Zohan do for the casual viewer - ie not the audience member
who puts Sandler as #1 on the list of all time comedians but rather
someone who sees him as, at best, a man who can turn his juvenile
comedy into a guilty pleasure. Well, Zohan is not really that funny a
film but it just about has enough wild humour and creativity to it to
make it quite fun. I was not laughing out loud that often but it did
have plenty of amusing moments that made me not hate it - which was a
possibility. What helps it is that it throws itself totally into how
nonsensical it all is and never really attempts to step away from it,
thus maintaining the tone that is knowingly silly and makes it possible
for the audience to accept this and not unfairly expect anything more.

Of course this does not make it brilliant by any means and the film is
still only silly fun and not a hilarious comedy that is accessible to
all. Sandler himself throws himself into his role and his accent even
if he still has the same crude material as ever. The fact that he makes
fun of the Israel/Palestine situation is a move that gives his material
a "different" feel but it is essentially a different doorway to the
same material. He plays up the silly aspect but of more help is a
wonderfully daft Turturro, Schneider and others, who get easy laughs
without the need to progress plot. As she did in "In The Mix", Chriqui
concentrates on being light and sexy – not that easy with her accent
but she does her basic requirement.

Zohan looks like it will be a daring and imaginative comedy but, beyond
the basic design of the film the material is pretty much what you would
expect from an Adam Sandler film in so much as it is crude, silly and
aimed at a teenage market. It is silly and if you are in the mode it is
quite fun but if you are looking for anything more than that then
you'll be disappointed. An usual Adam Sandler film, but still very much
an Adam Sandler film.

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