You Don't Mess With the Zohan ★★

Sometimes a film's potential rottenness is appalling enough to keep you far, far away from the movie theater. At other times however, the prospect of a truly trashy movies is fascinating, even exciting. While I've enjoyed moments of Adam Sandler's cinematic career, his latest film You Don't Mess With the Zohan, called out to my more masochistic side – cinematically speaking, of course. I confess that I was even a little excited at the thought of seeing a movie that promised to be so laughable despicable.

In this respect, The Zohan did not disappoint.

At the center of this strange little universe is Zohan, of course. To his credit, Sandler (who typically plays a version of himself in his comedies) vanishes behind Zohan's  accent and hairdo. Sandler's character is a battlegod, an Israeli anti-terrorist capable of killing even a strong man with virtually no perceived effort. But there's a twist! Our Zohan also longs to travel to America and become a world-class hairdresser. As he is used to having his way, he assumes he'll be able to secure such a position despite his complete lack of training and experience. And he's right, sorta. He gets a job cleaning up at a Palestinian-owned salon in a Middle-Eastern neighborhood. Hilarity ensues.

As with a lot of comedies, the strangest, stupidest things about this story to tend to provoke some moderate giggles. Foremost among them is the fact that Zohan and company (yes, there are sidekicks) come from an Israel that is apparently stuck in 1995, from the clothing everyone wears (neon shorts and Mariah Carey tees) to the sport of choice (hacky sack). Is israel really like this? I have no idea, and I'm not totally convinced that Sandler and fellow writers Robert Smigel and Judd Apatow (!?!) do either. But the film finds its jokes about Israel – and the Middle East in general – quickly and holds on for dear life. In addition to those listed above, these are focused squarely on the following subjects: hummus, hairyness, cheap electronics, goats, Hamas/bombs, and sex with virtually any woman, bonus if she's young and/or attractive.

So riotous is this list of joking points that the writer apparently felt little need to srite about anything else. "He'll brush his teeth with hummus!" they howled. "He'll throw hummus at the cat!" Unaware of how accurate or biting all this lampooning might be, I found myself less amused and more confused and offended as these jokes got repeated a sixth or seventh time. I wonder if I'd have felt the same way if I were actually from the Middle East. Maybe not. But I'll never know for sure. 

There are moments of Zohan that are truly funny, but these are lost in a frequently directionless pool of cat-kicking and gay jokes. And hummus. 

Comments

[You Don't Mess with the Zohan (2008)]

While our vote is for Adam, "Zohan" is not in the same league with "The West Side Story". Perhaps he needs to listen to the music of "Leonard Bernstein" in order to work out his timing on future ethnic clashes.

[HarriettTran]

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