You Don’t Mess With The Zohan

OK its Denis Dugan again.  And if it is Denis Dugan then the lead male has to be Adam Sandler.  So we have yet another festival of the so called slapstick.  This time around, it is set to the background of that eternal fight between 2 countries that used to live in peace for a long time – Israel and Palestine.

Of course, it is Dugan and Sandler and Happy Madison’s way of passing on a message of world peace as well.  Everything that “You Don’t Mess With The Zohan” (YDMWTZ) does is with a simple message of stop the fighting and live in peace and harmony.  All of it in typical Adam Sandler fashion.

The one thing that was outstanding with YDMWTZ – and I am not being sarcastic here – is the dramatically lower levels of slapstick.  There are little or no references to the usual gross vomiting or farting that is characteristic of Happy Madison movies.  That is instead replaced with liberal sexual references which are less than offensive.

Zohan (Adam Sandler) is an exceptionally skilled Special Operations Agent with Israel.  His arch enemy on the other side i.e Palestine is The Phantom (John Turturro).  Zohan can do anything you ask him to including swimming like a dolphin or catching a bullet with his fingers.  The Phantom is equally competent but hasn’t beaten Zohan ever.

But Zohan also harbours hopes of following his passion someday.  He wants to make “silky smooth” – his reference to hair dressing.  So when he sees a window of opportunity in his fight with the Phantom he pretends to lose but instead escapes to The Land of the Free to meet Paul Mitchel (the celebrated hair dresser).

He doesn’t get an audience with Mitchell and even gets ridiculed at his store.  Luckily for him, he meets Oori (Ido Mosseri) who shows him that in the US, Israelis and Palestinians live on either side of the road but with just the customary bickering – no killing.  He also lands a job with Dalia (Emmanuelle Chriqui) a Palestinian who runs a salon.

The performances and story are both very Adam Sandler– over dramatized. There are bazookas used on streets. There are children throwing stones at Zohan in Palestine which he clubs together to form a pebble toy – like a balloon toy. And if you can imagine a whole new level other than what I have written about – even that may have been done.

But that doesn’t take away the fun part of YDMWTZ.  It is comic from start to finish.  There is never any shortage of excitement.  While it does not personify high quality cinema by any stretch of imagination, it is still entertaining and surprisingly bereft of cheap humour.  I thought it was enjoyable.  6 on 10.

Watch the trailer on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmMXk0bA8gk