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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:35

Fresh:13

Rotten:22

Average Rating:5.2/10

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 - 15 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
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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)
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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
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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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This is a silly, crass comedy about a badass Israeli commando who secretly longs to be a hairdresser specialising in 1980s stylings.

Full Review Source: Guardian [UK] | comment Comment
08/15/08
Peter Bradshaw
Peter Bradshaw
Guardian [UK]
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You Don’t Mess With the Zohan is a rude and routine Adam Sandler farce with some exceedingly sharp lines.

Full Review Source: Times [UK] | comment Comment
08/15/08
James Christopher
James Christopher
Times [UK]
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A strange, mostly enjoyable mix of big political questions and crude comedy, Zohan overcomes its skeletal plotting and uneven gag ratio through Sandler's sheer commitment to nonsense.

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
08/15/08
Ian Freer
Ian Freer
Empire Magazine
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This moviegoer has no trouble with lowbrow comedy. The problem with Zohan, however, is that it’s like a kid who tells you a silly joke, gets a laugh, and immediately tells the same joke again.

Full Review Source: New Yorker | comment Comment
06/16/08
David Denby
David Denby
New Yorker
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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

You Don't Mess With the Zohan is as messy as comedies come. Much of it, though, is an inspired, hilarious mess.

Full Review Source: Wall Street Journal | comment Comment
06/06/08
Joe Morgenstern
Joe Morgenstern
Wall Street Journal
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If one-note jokes that drag on too long or are worked into the ground aren't enough to trigger comic nausea, then perhaps the myriad uses of hummus will do the trick in You Don't Mess With the Zohan.

Full Review Source: USA Today | comment Comment
06/06/08
Claudia Puig
Claudia Puig
USA Today
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Sandler works so hard at this, and so shamelessly, that he battered down my resistance.

Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | comment Comment
06/06/08
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
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Let me be blunt: You Don’t Mess With the Zohan is the finest post-Zionist action-hairdressing sex comedy I have ever seen.

comment Comment
06/05/08
A.O. Scott
A.O. Scott
New York Times
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In the end, the movie feels as if it exists only to display the Sandler's biceps.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
06/05/08
Stephen Hunter
Stephen Hunter
Washington Post
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Zohan is a mess and then some.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
06/04/08
Brian Lowry
Brian Lowry
Variety
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1 - 15 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
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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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