If only the Zohan hadn’t messed with us. Worse than his excruciating Chuck And Larry, Sandler seems determined to refine the unfunny comedy. Please, Mr Sandler, stop it. Please. It hurts.
You Don't Mess With The Zohan (2008)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:177
Fresh:64
Rotten:113
Average Rating:4.6/10
Consensus: You Don't Mess With the Zohan features intermittent laughs, and will please Sandler diehards, but after awhile the leaky premise wears thin.
Runtime: 1 hr 57 mins
Genre: Comedies
US Box Office: $100,018,837
Synopsis: Dennis Dugan (BIG DADDY, HAPPY GILMORE) directs this comedy co-written by Adam Sandler, Judd Apatow, and Robert Smigel. Disco- and hummus-loving Zohan (Sandler) is the Israeli army's best weapon.... Dennis Dugan (BIG DADDY, HAPPY GILMORE) directs this comedy co-written by Adam Sandler, Judd Apatow, and Robert Smigel. Disco- and hummus-loving Zohan (Sandler) is the Israeli army's best weapon. He can single-handedly take out terrorists and swim like a dolphin, and still find time to charm the ladies. But this lethal weapon is tired of fighting Palestinian terrorists like the Phantom (John Turturro). He has bigger dreams: he wants to cut and style hair. Unfortunately, once Zohan arrives in New York City with a new look straight out of the 1980s and an assumed identity after faking his own death, his lack of experience gets him laughed out of salon after salon. Finally, Dalia (Emmanuelle Chriqui), a Palestinian salon owner, gives him a shot, and the older patrons love him. But just as Zohan is hitting his stride, Salim, a Palestinian New York City cabbie (Rob Schneider) recognizes him, and suddenly the Zohan's dream is in jeopardy. To confuse matters more, there is a Trump-like developer (Michael Buffer) who is trying to clear out the Manhattan neighborhood where Israelis and Palestinians peacefully coexist in order to build a mall. A bulked-up Sandler is amusing as Zohan, and this is Schneider's best performance in years. Despite the extreme stereotyping, there is an underlying message about the futility of war and fact that people really are, after all, just people. The film is peppered with brief appearances from a menagerie of celebrities, including Chris Rock, Dave Matthews, Charlotte Rae, Kevin James, John McEnroe, Mariah Carey, George Takei, and Bruce Vilanch. Lainie Kazan and Nick Swardson also star in this film as a mother and son who befriend the new immigrant. [More]
Starring: Adam Sandler, John Turturro, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Nick Swardson
Starring: Adam Sandler, John Turturro, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Nick Swardson, Lainie Kazan, Rob Schneider
Director: Dennis Dugan
Director: Dennis Dugan
Screenwriter: Robert Smigel, Adam Sandler, Judd Apatow
Producer: Adam Sandler, Jack Giarraputo
Composer: Rupert Gregson-Williams
Studio: Sony Pictures Entertainment
Reviews for You Don't Mess With The Zohan
Occasionally the film is so bad it's almost funny, if you think a scene in which a cat is used as a football is funny.
Things work out, of course, to everyone's satisfaction: there are a few political gags that have a veneer of audacity, but in essence, the movie takes risks only with its audience's gag reflex.
It goes on too long, but I enjoyed much of the crazy, off-the-wall nature of this political satire and the Sandler-Apatow brand of humour.
Finally, a funny Sandler movie. It's his franchise. He's sexy too! But why all the Mel Gibson slams?
The movie paints crude and insulting portraits of Israelis and Palestinians, going in for the basest stereotypes that would only bring a smile to the face of a Klansman.
I’m all for politically incorrect humor, but there has to be humor in the political incorrectness, and I didn’t get it here.
There are enough comedy diamonds in the rough here though to make it worth a look, but only just.
The ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine isn’t exactly the obvious choice of topic for a comedy – which is perhaps why this film is about as funny as a suicide bombing.
Let me be blunt: You Don’t Mess With the Zohan is the finest post-Zionist action-hairdressing sex comedy I have ever seen.
In the relatively anemic anthology of recent Adam Sandler flops, You Don't Mess with the Zohan hangs above with comedic charm and a nonsensically amusing plotline. Sandler is the white version of the legendary Tim Meadows character The Ladies Man.
Not that You Don't Mess with the Zohan is meant to be taken seriously, nor is it meant to be an intelligent discussion of world politics. But even as a zany comedy whose backdrop kinda-sorta happens to have some heft to it, it falters.
The Zohan could have worked significantly better if it was delivered in smaller doses, like say a reoccurring skit on "Saturday Night Live," but at 113 minutes the movie wears out its welcome long before the closing credits hit the screen.
You Don't Mess With the Zohan is like a hellacious bad-hair day -- unkempt, unsightly and mildly embarrassing at best.
But really -- 113 minutes? Some judicious trimming might have made the jokes' hit-to-miss ratio way more tolerable.
Zohan is both exponentially stranger than Larry and about twice as amusing.
Zohan's a shallow character even by Sandler's standards, a bunch of crotch thrusts in search of a laugh.
opens with a close-up of [Zohan's] bulging crotch and remains in that territory, in every sense, for the 113 minutes that it violates the screen
Though a bunch of the jokes are milked too thin, there are some absurdly goofy sight gags, and a lineup of fun, silly cameos by guests from Chris Rock to Mariah Carey.
Latest News for You Don't Mess With The Zohan
October 05, 2008:
This counter-terrorism satire is its own worst enemy. Especially whenever Sandler's whining geek turned combo swaggering assassin hair stylist's too-much-information bulging prosthetic crotch pops up. ![]()
More...
August 19, 2008:
Arab Censors Mess With The Zohan ![]()
In a move that will leave some American filmgoers seething with jealousy, censors in Egypt, Lebanon, and the United Arab Emirates have banned Adam Sandler's You Don't Mess With... More...
August 16, 2008:
NewFilmReview: This counter-terrorism satire is its own worst enemy. Especially whenever Sandler's whining geek turned combo swaggering assassin hair stylist's too-much-information bulging prosthetic crotch pops up. ![]()
More...
July 13, 2008:
Box Office Guru Wrapup: Moody Superheroes Rule the Box Office
Hellboy II: The Golden Army nudges Hancock out of first place while Murphy debuts as the summer's biggest flop. More...
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