Rama’s SCREEN

If James Bond was Jewish, hairy and silly, he’d be the Zohan. YOU DON’T MESS WITH THE ZOHAN is your typical, usual Adam Sandler movie where it features… all his friends but this time it dogs on the endless fighting in the middle east and shows how peace could happen in comical, outrageous ways. It’s a movie for Adam Sandler’s fans not a movie for those who know Adam could do so much better than this.

The Zohan is the deadliest Israeli Counter-terrorist agent. He’s like Rembrandt with the grenades. He can catch bullet with his teeth. But life as a spy gets old for the expert. He decides to fake his own death and flies to New York where will start a new life… as a hairstylist. He gets a job in a place owned by a Palestinian hottie. But soon he discovers that his old life isn’t finish with him just yet.

Yes, it makes fun of two cultures, Israeli and Palestinian but I think the movie does enough effort to try to find some balance, meaning when it makes fun of one, it also makes fun of the other.
One of the characters mention that both sides are crazy for fighting so much and can’t get along.
The film seems to give us a hint that in America you can start over. People can live side by side cause everybody just wants to make a decent living.

And the ones who cause trouble are those who are greedy and is determined to divide and provoke.
Good point. I came from a country myself where certain people would pay some people to cause troubles among two ethnicities by stirring up slurs and starting rumors and smear campaign.
Just for that alone, this movie has something good to offer.

Comedy-wise, I gotta say, it’s not Adam Sandler’s best.
The accent is funny, the whole banging customers after styling their hair is funny, the feet to the face is also funny.
The frequent ass display gets annoying after a certain point.
The phantom food chain is cheesy and the act of singing out loud to kill the bad guy is a bit off the wall and I think the movie relies too much on cameos.
You’d be going, ‘Hey, it’s that guy!’ or ‘Wow, I can’t believe she’s in this movie!’ so much so that the comedy comes off as… just okay.

Nonetheless, I think Judd Apatow, Robert Smigel have crafted yet another entertaining movie that will definitely find its audience. Well done, Mr. Sandler. Now can you please get back to doing more movies like Spanglish and Reign Over Me?

I asked Adam Sandler at the screening, why doesn’t he do more Oscar worthy gigs, because he has the talent so why not take on more dramatic roles?
He replied by saying that it’s more fun to do silly comedy movies because he gets to make ‘em with his friends, no pressure to stress out and at the end of the day, go home to his family and be happy.

* Place the cursor on the image below to check my grade for this film