You Don’t Mess with the Zohan (2008)

I don’t know why, but for some reason, I always had the title in my head. I honestly cannot remember if the movie was a box office success or not (I rarely read other reviews before writing my own, for integrity and all that), or whether is was so controversial it made the news, or what, but the name stuck.
So when I saw it on DVD I thought why not, Adam Sandler movies are always pretty enjoyable at least. This one is no exception.
The story is a bit twisted, as these types of comedy generally are. We follow Zohan, who is a superheroesque Israeli secret service agent. He likes to “Disco” a lot, and kick Palestinian ass. However, he is getting weary of war, and decides he wants to become a hair stylist in New York (as we all do). He thus fakes his death, against his nemesis, The Phantom, flies to New York and attempts to find fame and fortune there, while avoiding being recognised.
Generally said, there is really nothing special about the plot. The movie itself is pretty amusing, but not laugh-out-loud funny. There are not really any memorable moments either, it pretty much is a watch and forget movie, in terms of comedy. The character of Zohan is a superlative one. Don’t expect any realism or many emotions here. He is pretty much an invincible killing machine that has a soft side, and a very questionable fashion sense.
In terms of social clichés concerning ethnicity, Sandler has pulled all the stops. The movie is filled with them, and uses these for its source of comedy. This is usually a very dangerous route. Russell Peters manages it well, but even he can get boring after a while. Sure some moments, such as when the Arabs call the Hezbollah phone service, are pretty amusing, and did bring a smile to my face, but all in all, they are not new, and they are pretty much all in here. After all, once you go over all the Jewish-Arab jokes once, it kind of gets offensive after a while, and in my mind, Sandler did take it just that little step too far. Had it been toned down just a little bit, and avoided a couple of clichés (like the hummus for example), and provided a bit more original comedy, this could have been a very good film.
What I think Sandler tried to do was make his own version of Zoolander. And even though Zohan is not as funny as that movie, it still remains a fairly noble effort. The combination of fashion world and military warfare is does work in is own weird way.
Yes, people will find it offensive, but if you go past the offensiveness, you still end up with a nice amusement of a movie.

2.5/5

Loved: Fairly funny, fairly novel, pretty amusing
Hated: Clichés are a bit repetitive, Sandler’s character can get annoying, nothing new on the comedy front