Director Dennis Dugan knows his way around shin-whacking slapstick, and Sandler is mesmerizing.
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.
Rated: 12A [See Full Rating] for crude and sexual content throughout, language and nudity.
Runtime: 1 hr 57 mins
Genre: Comedies
Theatrical Release:15-08-2008
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
'I just want to make people silky smooth,' cried Adam in the kind of Israeli accent which suggests that Israel borders France.
Were there laughs to be had? Sure, but even a "Dorf on Golf" videotape has its moments.
Zohan might have made a relatively entertaining series of regular sketches on SNL but can't sustain a nearly two-hour running time
Judd Apatow continues his quest to kill comedy with coarse, low class, low-intellect rubbish like this, which can turn you mind to porridge if you sit through it.
Hopes are dashed for the screenwriting contribution of Judd Apatow to elevate Adam Sandler as a poor man's Groucho Marx...
You Don't Mess with the Zohan is cacophonous and competitive comedy, more exhausting than fun.
Adam Sandler takes on terrorism as Israeli agent-turned-hair stylist in raunchy shock comedy.
The racial stereotypes that emerge in this film are as over the top and potentially offensive as Eli Wallach's Tuco in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. But what redeems the film to some degree is its general good naturedness...
Amid the silliness, the boorishness and the vulgarity is a certain warmness and sweetness.
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
So I smelled it, smelled it, smelled it and took it - and you know, I thought it was pretty good.
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!
Don't mess with audiences, Sandler. Yet another bum movie from the actor that so steeped in stereotypes, it's nauseating.
For as stupid as it is, part of its problem is that it really isn't stupid enough.
It's a difficult feat to manage irony without antecedent, so rather than opt for knowing caricature -- like, say, Adam Goldberg's The Hebrew Hammer -- Zohan mostly opts for empty farce: topical humor for people unfamiliar with the topic.
[A]voids that pitfall that brings down this genre of nutty comedy far more often than not: there's nothing meanspirited about it. It's crude in many ways... but it's never vulgar, and in fact it's often strikingly sweet.
This is one of those movie ideas that leaves you wondering what other ideas, exactly, were rejected in favor of this one, on the grounds of being too lame.
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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