Zohan Review

I reviewed this 2 months ago, but left it dusted. So I'm publishing it now

1. You Don't Mess With The Zohan

Other than romantic comedies with Drew Barrymore and occasional non-comedy forays like PT Anderson's Punch Drunk Love, I usually skip Adam Sandler movies. The guy's comedic persona (especially ever since The Waterboy) is too crude, annoying and childish (only Will Ferrell can top him) for my taste. However, after seeing the trailer for "You Don't Mess With The Zohan", it becomes the first Adam Sandler movie that I anticipate for a very long time.

Why the anticipation? Zohan is probably the first time Adam Sandler created a new comedic persona since The Waterboy and it's also probably his first attempt at doing a good spoof/parody ala Ben Stiller or Sacha Baron Cohen's Ali G and Borat. Of course, it also helps that it has a killer premise: Zohan is the best commando Israel has ever seen (by the best, I mean he can stop bullets in real time kind) whose lifelong dream is only to become a hairstylist. Last but not least, Judd Apatow of the 40 Years Old Virgin, Knocked Up, Superbad fame help co-write the script. Does the end product live up to the potential? Not quite, but there's still good time to be had.

First, let's make one thing clear, Adam Sandler of the old is gone. Gone are the crude shouting, toilet, gross jokes. In are broad, cartoonish, nonsensical gags that Stephen Chow could do (or used to be able to) in his sleep, and Sandler is better for it. It's also great that the writers and Sandler embrace the cartoonish, nonsensical comedy to their heart and pull it on their sleeves - with gags like grenade ping pong, Zohan's physical abilities - they're not always successful, but they're more often funny than what Adam Sandler used to make. But credit has to go to the Zohan character and Sandler himself, from The Zohan's masculine, oversexed persona to his fake accent and to his Chuck Norris-esque ability to be immune from any physical harm. I believe this is a character spoof is quite accurate, even if I have never met/known an Israeli before. After all, many cheesy Chuck Norris action films used to be produced by Israelis producer Menahem Golan and Goram Globus and you could probably see the striking similarity between Zohan and Chuck Norris.

Then, there's there's the issue of this movie being a message movie. Sandler's last film, I Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, had this sincere but ultimately hypocritical attempt at a homosexual tolerant message. This movie does have some preachy messages about the Israel-Palestinian conflicts. But unlike Chuck and Larry, this film is smart enough to be a cartoon that the messages don't come accross too forcefully. After all, only in a cartoonish movie like this can we see a man capable of stopping bullets with his bare hand and an immigrant community of Israelis and Palestinians living together.

Rating: 3.5 /5