You Don’t Mess With the Zohan (**½)

Directed by: Dennis Dugan (Problem Child, National Security, Happy Gilmore, Big Daddy)
Starring: Adam Sandler, Emmanuelle Chriqui, John Torturro, Rob Schneider, Dave Matthews
Seen: August 13th 2008

**½ Out of ****

Adam Sandler and Dennis Dugan team up yet again to make another hilarious comedy. Unfortunately this one is not as good as Happy Gilmore, or as touching as Big Daddy, but it certainly matches and exceeds both these films when comparing the laugh-out-loud factor.

Zohan (Sandler) is an Israeli super-agent dreaming of retiring from the industry and becoming a hair stylist. Of course in the hard-as-nails Israeli culture this is seen as some sort of “gay” dream, and he is rightfully reluctant before telling just about anyone about this dream. Even his parents taunt him for going soft when he informs them that he plans to leave the army for hair dressing.

So faking his own death while battling his arch-nemesis, The Phantom (a brilliantly entertaining Torturro), he relocates himself to America, where he tells people his strange accent is Australian, which he then alleges is similar to the Middle Eastern accent. Yes, that’s how ridiculous the humour in this film gets. And it works. Zohan’s father even uses his glasses as a spoon to eat hummus (another big in-joke in the film – copious amounts of hummus), an extraordinary yet side-splittingly funny aside during one of their already amusing conversations.

In America his dreams do not seem to flow as he has planned, and he is unable to get even a small non-hair stylist job at Paul Mitchell’s. So he starts thinking about going to work for a friend at his small electronics shop, but is advised against it, since everyone in the shop now works there permanently even though they also had dreams of grandeur when they arrived in America. Somewhere along the line he gets a job at a small Palestinian hairdresser, saying that the fight between the two groups is of no importance for him anymore, he does not want anything to do with it. Here he meets Dalia, the beautiful Palestinian girl who runs the hairdresser, and assists her with solving her latest problem, corporate types are trying to intimidate her into closing shop, so they can demolish the buildings on their street and build a multiplex. He also starts actual hair dressing, and quickly builds a rather sizable fan-base, not only because of his obvious hair dressing talent, but also for the fringe “services” he offers the clients, especially old ladies.

He is also thrown straight back into the fray, as the opposite side of the street belongs to the Palestinians, and they simply can’t seem to get along. He is eventually recognised by the Palestinian cab-driver Salim (Schneider – very funny, and actually well acted), whom Zohan bullied when he was younger. This draws The Phantom to America, since he has to complete his battle with Zohan.

The corporate types in turn have hired James (an interesting turn by Dave Matthews himself), a nihilistic racist redneck white extremist, to aggravate the situation between the Israeli’s and Palestinians to the point where they will destroy the street themselves. This works to a point, and when the Phantom shows up things start getting even messier on the little street, until they realise what’s going on and turn their combined attention on James.. It would be ideal if the situation in Gaza can be solved this easily, and even in the film it seems a bit of a stretch. But it’s an Adam Sandler comedy, so it’s permissible.

I’ve talked to several people about this film, and even though I laughed myself into a stupor, some people did not find the same level of enjoyment here. I can recommend it highly, even though it is by no means a good film, for its simple entertainment value, even if it is with some slightly offensive humour. Look out for the TV-commercial for The Phantom’s new fast food chain, with probably one of the funniest moments I’ve experienced in any movie for a very long time.