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MOVIES / IN CINEMAS / 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)

35%
80%
41%
N/A
N/A
35 %
Reviews Counted: 141 Fresh: 49  Rotten:92 Average Rating: 4.7/10
 
Consensus: You Don't Mess With the Zohan features intermittent laughs, and will please Sandler diehards, but after awhile the leaky premise wears thin.
 

How does the Tomatometer work?

The Tomatometer measures the percentage of positive reviews from Approved Tomatometer Critics for a certain movie.[-]

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. He can single-handedly take out terrorists and swim like a dolphin, and still find time to... 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]

Genre: Comedies

Starring: Adam Sandler, John Turturro, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Nick Swardson, Lainie Kazan

Director: Dennis Dugan
Screenwriter: Robert Smigel, Adam Sandler, Judd Apatow
Producer: Adam Sandler, Jack Giarraputo
Composer: Rupert Gregson-Williams

Reviews

 
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1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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Ratings Image
3.5/5

Sandler's best in a long time

Full Review | comment Comment
07/05/08
Stefan Birgir Stefansson
sbs.is
Ratings Image
N/A

As stupid as ever, but surprisingly clever.

comment Comment
07/03/08
David Poland
Movie City News
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review | comment Comment
07/02/08
Village Voice
Ratings Image
B

There are a handful of legitimately funny jokes, even though -- though it frightens me to say so -- I don't get as excited as I got when I was fifteen.

Full Review | comment Comment
07/01/08
Michael Dance
The Cinema Source
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1/4

The script has a couple of actually funny gags, but hack director Dennis Dugan messes up the delivery in service to Sandler's titanic ego.

Full Review | comment Comment
06/27/08
Sean Means
Salt Lake Tribune
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3/4

If "Munich" is the disease, the Zohan is the cure. Some hard little grains of truth make this Sandler's funniest movie since "The Waterboy."

Full Review | comment Comment
06/20/08
Kyle Smith
KyleSmithOnline.com
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3/5

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 | comment Comment
06/20/08
Philippa Hawker
The Age (Australia)
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1/5

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 | comment Comment
06/20/08
Ben McEachen
Empire Magazine Australasia
Ratings Image
N/A

Sandler's unflappable Jewish gigolo superhero hairdresser act is an overconceptualized drag.

Full Review | comment Comment
06/17/08
Thomas Peyser
Style Weekly (Richmond, VA)
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1.5/4

Director Duggan serves up a scattershot satire that is about as funny as a Palestinian landmine at an Israeli kiddie birthday party. Broad, offensive and thinly veiled...

Full Review | comment Comment
06/16/08
Frank Ochieng
Movie Eye
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N/A

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 | comment Comment
06/16/08
David Denby
New Yorker
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N/A

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 | comment Comment
06/16/08
Ebert & Roeper
Ratings Image
N/A

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 | comment Comment
06/16/08
Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile
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1.75/5

Lame hair comedy riddled with greasy dandruff.

Full Review | comment Comment
06/15/08
Bob Grimm
Tucson Weekly
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2/4

When it's funny, it's very, very funny, but when it's bad, it's downright awful.

Full Review | comment Comment
06/12/08
Matt Brunson
Creative Loafing
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2.5/5

For all its flaws, Zohan remains a tolerable if inane piece of entertainment that scores points for trying...

Full Review | comment Comment
06/12/08
Stax
IGN Movies
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3/4

Sandler can still do it when it comes to silly.

Full Review | comment Comment
06/12/08
Larry Ratliff
San Antonio Express-News
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2.5/4

despite all of the film's problems, there are still plenty of very funny moments and Zohan is one of Sandler's more enjoyable characters.

Full Review | comment Comment
06/12/08
Sean McBride
Sean the Movie Guy
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1/4

When I think of movies that have a locker-room mentality I think of movies like this one, another sleazy, dirty-minded offering from Adam Sandler.

Full Review | comment Comment
06/11/08
Linda Cook
Quad City Times (Davenport, IA)
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5/10

There are really only four jokes in the movie, and each of them goes from being pleasantly goofy to positively leaden as the film's needlessly protracted running time unspools.

Full Review | comment Comment
06/11/08
Tim Brayton
Antagony & Ecstasy
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