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Movies / On DVD / You Don't Mess With The Zohan
You Don't Mess With The Zohan

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You Don't Mess With The Zohan (2008)

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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

[See More Credits]

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Reviews for You Don't Mess With The Zohan

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1 - 20 (sorted by rotten rating; Australian critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 >> >|
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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.

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine Australasia | comment Comment
06/20/08
Ben McEachen
Ben McEachen
Empire Magazine Australasia
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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.

Full Review Source: The Australian | comment Comment
07/10/08
David Stratton
David Stratton
The Australian
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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.

Full Review Source: The Age (Australia) | comment Comment
06/20/08
Philippa Hawker
Philippa Hawker
The Age (Australia)
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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.

Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile | comment Comment
06/16/08
Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile
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N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Boston Phoenix | comment Comment
04/23/09
Peter Keough
Peter Keough
Boston Phoenix

I’m all for politically incorrect humor, but there has to be humor in the political incorrectness, and I didn’t get it here.

Full Review Source: Ebert & Roeper | comment Comment
06/16/08
Ebert & Roeper
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch | comment Comment
10/18/08
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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.

Full Review Source: Sun Online | comment Comment
08/15/08
Sun Online
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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.

Full Review Source: Detroit News | comment Comment
06/06/08
Adam Graham
Adam Graham
Detroit News

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.

Full Review Source: Watertown Daily Times | comment Comment
06/06/08
Adam Tobias
Adam Tobias
Watertown Daily Times

You Don't Mess With the Zohan is like a hellacious bad-hair day -- unkempt, unsightly and mildly embarrassing at best.

Full Review Source: E! Online | comment Comment
06/05/08
Alex Markerson
Alex Markerson
E! Online

But really -- 113 minutes? Some judicious trimming might have made the jokes' hit-to-miss ratio way more tolerable.

Full Review Source: MSNBC | comment Comment
06/03/08
Alonso Duralde
Alonso Duralde
MSNBC

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

Full Review Source: Killer Movie Reviews | comment Comment
06/07/08
Andrea Chase
Andrea Chase
Killer Movie Reviews

In Zohan, Sandler, his co-writers and director Dennis Dugan keep tossing away jokes and throwing away significance.

Full Review Source: New York Press | comment Comment
06/04/08
Armond White
Armond White
New York Press

The movie has surprisingly little energy. Sandler seems to think all he needs to do is talk in a phony middle-eastern accent to generate laughs, but what he's saying should also be funny too, right?

Full Review Source: Sin Magazine | comment Comment
06/10/08
Austin Kennedy
Austin Kennedy
Sin Magazine

This is mostly tame stuff.

Full Review Source: Time Out New York | comment Comment
06/05/08
Ben Kenigsberg
Ben Kenigsberg
Time Out New York

Although this film could've been hilarious, almost every scene ends up as crude or just plain silly. But Adam Sandler looks terrific as Zohan!

Full Review Source: ReelTalk Movie Reviews | comment Comment
06/07/08
Betty Jo Tucker
Betty Jo Tucker
ReelTalk Movie Reviews

It says something generally about the acting when Mariah Carey, playing herself, is as good or better than just about everyone else.

Full Review Source: Arizona Republic | comment Comment
06/05/08
Bill Goodykoontz
Bill Goodykoontz
Arizona Republic

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.

Full Review Source: Journal and Courier (Lafayette, IN) | comment 1 Comment
06/05/08
Bob Bloom
Bob Bloom
Journal and Courier (Lafayette, IN)

Lame hair comedy riddled with greasy dandruff.

Full Review Source: Tucson Weekly | comment Comment
06/15/08
Bob Grimm
Bob Grimm
Tucson Weekly
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by rotten rating; Australian critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 >> >|
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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. Opens in new window
More...

August 19, 2008: Arab Censors Mess With The Zohan Opens in new window
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. Opens in new window
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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