There are two types of movie fans in this world: those who like Adam Sandler and those who don’t. I’ll admit that I used to like his style of comedy a few years back but I have since grown out of that state and looking back it seems impossible that I liked all of his movies at one point in my life. You Don’t Mess with the Zohan, although straying from his usual "same guy in a different movie" routine, misses more comedic targets than it hits.
An Israeli Special Forces soldier decides he’s tired of capturing terrorists and instead he wants to be a hair stylist. Subsequently he fakes his own death and moves to New York, ending up working in a rundown salon. However a man from his past with a grudge notices him and vows to capture him so that he can be seen as hero.
I’m not going to lie and say this is a film that everyone will hate for its lack of any admirable laughs, because, yes, it will please the diehard Sandler fans out there. But is that necessarily a good thing? Is only pandering to your ever so loyal fanbase but no one else really a thing to be proud of? This is Sandler at his highest point of being crass and over-the-top and I could accept that if the jokes were actually funny. The problem with this type of absurdist humour is that the payoff has to be that you actually laugh and Zohan fails to do that 90% of the time.
This is the type of film that attempts to get too many of its laughs from repeated gags and comedic brashness. There are running jokes about Zohan having sex with old women in the back room of the hair salon, him eating everything (and I mean everything) dipped in hummus, and even resulting in him thrusting his exaggerated manhood next to people’s faces. Now if you’re 14 that may have you in stitches but for anyone older than that who's watching for whatever reason (and hey, I’m not judging — I’m one of them) the jokes are just going to fall flat and lifeless.
The film wants to appeal to any intellectuals out there by including jokes about politics. But there’s a problem with this type of humour, too, in that instead of the joke being that, for instance, his own army traded a wanted terrorist back for two normal soldiers (which has potential to be funny), it instead results in Zohan kicking someone in front of him through a table to get the laugh from you. So instead of tackling political issues satirically, this just serves as a background to all the slapstick and juvenile sight gags we get shoved so blatantly down our throats.
Article comments
1 - Buck
I have to disagree with your opening thought - that moviegoers divise their own plan and usually don't end up sticking to it. Basically I find that is the case with maybe half of the ones who try harder and less than half of the ones who don't. But in either case, I don't think Zohan was as unfunny as you and many critics have said. In fact I plan to purchase the DVD and I don't already own any Sandler movies on DVD with the exception of "The Longest Yard" (which I have in fact never even watched - I got the DVD for free). "Spanglish" was a bad movie featuring an excellent performance from Sandler. "Punch-Drunk Love" was a bad movie featuring a more or less OK performance from Sandler (know one could have saved that pathetic mess). My funniest Sandler is "Waterboy" while my least is "Anger Management."
2 - Ross Miller
I actually forgot about Punch-Drunk Love (as it's so different to his other movies) but have to TOTALLY disagree with you. Along with his excellent dramatic performance in Reign Over Me, PDL is Sandler's best film. P.T. Anderson is a movie making genius.
3 - Buck
Oh I haven't seen Reign Over me yet. I don't care for PT Anderson as a filmmaker, generally speaking, although Hard 8 was ok.
4 - Derek Fleek
I got mixed feelings here. Zohan is a funny character, but many of the jokes don't go anywhere. Good review.