You Don't Mess with the Zohan.

You Don't Mess with the Zohan.



Comedy is a subjective genre. One man's Blazing Saddles is another man's Meet the Spartans. Like most other comedians, Adam Sandler polarizes audiences; You either love him or you hate him.
His latest offering, you don’t mess with the Zohan, will no doubt offend a great many people as he tries to tackle the mountainous topic of the Isreali/Palestinian conflict and create laughs from it.

Sandler plays Zohan, a disco-loving Isreali counter-terrorist Action Man. His skills at tackling terrorism border on Super Powers as he catches bullets between his fingers and does flying kicks through solid walls. His big mission is to stop another larger than life villain called The Phantom (John Turturro), but, in his heart, he secretly dreams of leaving the Mossad and starting a new life. A new life in America. As a hairdresser.

His plans don't work out straight away though as he is laughed or chased out of each Salon he tries. At the point of giving up, he finds a small Salon owned by a sexy Palestinian chick and begins to live out his dream.
Of course, In true Comedy spirit, there's a catch. The building is listed to be torn down to make way for a monstrous new Mall and the Salon is on the brink of closure. Zohan's unique brand of 'Silky Smooth' styling might just pull it back though, as he gains notoriety for giving a little extra service to his customers. Ahem.

The film culminates with The Phantom learning Zohan's whereabouts and coming to America to find him, but quickly descends into the mushiest climax you're ever likely to see. Zohan and the Phantom join forces to defeat the Mall developers and everyone makes friends, or to put it another way, Isreal and Palestine put aside their differences to fight American Greed.

When the film is funny, it's very funny. Some of the jokes will have you creased with laughter. But, when it's serious it tends to get a bit sourly sweet, like the ending outlined above. It really excels when it's showing Zohan's Fish-out-of-water antics. For Example, he quiets a noisy child by giving a Vulcan style sleeper grip to the neck.

Initially the poor accents from Sandler and the supporting cast do grate, but you quickly get used to them. Hats off to Rob Scheider in his obligatory cameo as a Palestinian Farmer cum New York Taxi Driver. He manages to evoke some sympathy despite being the most annoying actor in Hollywood.

|’m going to recommend Zohan because as an Adam Sandler comedy vehicle it works perfectly. Just try to ignore the Pseudo-political message as it really misses the mark.

Just one last thing I really must vent… Mariah Carey??? WTF?

Verdict 8/10
A very funny comedy.