You Don't Mess With the Zohan
You Don't Mess With the Zohan is the latest offering from Adam Sandler who has the propensity to either rock or suck – more often the latter. Co-writing here is Judd Apitow who currently can do no wrong (OK he gets a Mulligan for producing the sorta lame Drillbit Taylor). The result is an up tick for Sandler but with the Sandlerization of his work a bit of a come down for Apitow. Sandler is Zohan, an invincible Israeli anti terrorist with pubic hair to spare and then some whose always jonesin’ for hummus. He fakes his own death at the hands of his arch enemy The Phantom (John Turturro going over the top as only he can). Zohan runs off to New York to pursue his real dream of being a hair stylist. The only place he can find work however is in a shop run by Dalia (Montreal’s smokin’ hot Emmanuelle Chriqui) in her Palestinian section of town. There he learns tolerance and finds love while giving “permanent” satisfaction to his elderly customers and not just for the retro coif. Apitow adds a new level of uncomfortable nudity which seemed impossible after his last few outings but here literally uncovers new territory with veteran Lanie Kazan. Norm MacDonald as one of Sandlers regular posse is missing but Rob Schneider adds to the parade of bad accents. Mariah Carey’s acting remains as convincing as it was in Glitter (and she’s playing herself!). Fellow musician Dave Matthews provides a cameo as do Kevin Nealon, Chris Rock, George Takai and Shelly Berman. Save for the fiery climax which left me confused and feeling that my time was wasted, You Don’t Mess With the Zohan turns out to be a passable comedy although it doesn’t quite live up to its long running trailers.