You Don't Mess with the Zohan
Taxi-surfing: Adam Sandler in You Don't Mess with the Zohan
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Sunday, 17, Aug 2008 07:18
Directed by Dennis Dugan, out now, starring Adam Sandler, John Turturro, Rob Schneider, Emmanuelle Chriqui, running time 133 mins.
In a nutshell.
Camp hair-styling nonsense
What's it all about?
Adam Sandler plays the heroic - apparently invincible - Zohan, an Israeli special forces soldier who dreams of laying down his guns and moving to the US to become a hair dresser.
To achieve his dream, he fakes his own death during a fight with his arch-nemesis the Phantom (played by John Turturro) before fleeing Israel. His well laid out plan, however, begins to unravel when he finds himself falling love with the owner of his hair salon, Dalia (Emmanuelle Chriqui).
A disgruntled Palestinian cab driver (Schneider) then recognises Zohan in New York, informs the Phantom, and all kinds of ridiculous camp shenanigans begin.
Who's in it?
Sandler plays his usual over-the-top loud role and is joined by his usual buddies, including long-term partner Schneider. Turturro gives a surprising performance as the evil Phantom, while the relatively unknown Chriqui plays the love interest.
As an example.
Michael - "What are you bionic?"
Zohan - "No, I only like the ladies"
Zohan - "I just want to make people silky-smooth"
Likelihood of a trip to the Oscars
Sandler fans will love it, but critics have always hated his style of comedy so don't go expecting any awards being handed out anytime soon.
What the others say
"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." - Empire
"There's a broad theory that no matter how funny the comedy, 90 minutes is the point at which audiences have had enough. You Don't Mess With The Zohan trundles on for 113 minutes, none of them funny." - Channel 4 Film
So is it any good?
As with all Adam Sandler films you will either love this or detest it. To his credit, Sandler has chosen a pretty politically charged topic, the Middle East crisis, as his source material this time round.
There are some proper out loud laughs here, but they're almost guilty laughs because they come at some pretty immature and stupid things. Dugan is apparently too scared to tackle the controversial subject in any proper way so resorts to Sandler's trump card - out-and-out stupidity.
We end up with a sex-mad Israeli soldier getting it on with old women and brushing his teeth with humus. It's all just too stupid.
On the plus side, Turturro actually gives a pretty good performance as the evil Phantom and is clearly enjoying spending time being silly with Sandler on screen.
Schneider (will there ever be a Sandler film without him?) pops up as a taxi driver out to seek revenge on the Zohan but never delivers anything other than shouting abuse at middle-aged women.
There was potential for this to be hugely offensive or a cleverly worked comedy on a sensitive subject. It fails to be either. If you get your comedy kicks out of stupidity you might find something here to amuse, but if you want to engage your brain in anyway you would be best to stay a long way away.
5 /10
Richard James