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Movies / On DVD / You Don't Mess With The Zohan
You Don't Mess With The Zohan

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You Don't Mess With The Zohan (2008)

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Reviews Counted:177

Fresh:64

Rotten:113

Average Rating:4.6/10

Consensus: You Don't Mess With the Zohan features intermittent laughs, and will please Sandler diehards, but after awhile the leaky premise wears thin.

Rated: PG-13 [See Full Rating] for crude and sexual content throughout, language and nudity.

Runtime: 1 hr 57 mins

Genre: Comedies

Theatrical Release:Jun 6, 2008 Wide

Box Office: $100,018,837

Synopsis: Dennis Dugan (BIG DADDY, HAPPY GILMORE) directs this comedy co-written by Adam Sandler, Judd Apatow, and Robert Smigel. Disco- and hummus-loving Zohan (Sandler) is the Israeli army's best weapon.... Dennis Dugan (BIG DADDY, HAPPY GILMORE) directs this comedy co-written by Adam Sandler, Judd Apatow, and Robert Smigel. Disco- and hummus-loving Zohan (Sandler) is the Israeli army's best weapon. He can single-handedly take out terrorists and swim like a dolphin, and still find time to charm the ladies. But this lethal weapon is tired of fighting Palestinian terrorists like the Phantom (John Turturro). He has bigger dreams: he wants to cut and style hair. Unfortunately, once Zohan arrives in New York City with a new look straight out of the 1980s and an assumed identity after faking his own death, his lack of experience gets him laughed out of salon after salon. Finally, Dalia (Emmanuelle Chriqui), a Palestinian salon owner, gives him a shot, and the older patrons love him. But just as Zohan is hitting his stride, Salim, a Palestinian New York City cabbie (Rob Schneider) recognizes him, and suddenly the Zohan's dream is in jeopardy. To confuse matters more, there is a Trump-like developer (Michael Buffer) who is trying to clear out the Manhattan neighborhood where Israelis and Palestinians peacefully coexist in order to build a mall. A bulked-up Sandler is amusing as Zohan, and this is Schneider's best performance in years. Despite the extreme stereotyping, there is an underlying message about the futility of war and fact that people really are, after all, just people. The film is peppered with brief appearances from a menagerie of celebrities, including Chris Rock, Dave Matthews, Charlotte Rae, Kevin James, John McEnroe, Mariah Carey, George Takei, and Bruce Vilanch. Lainie Kazan and Nick Swardson also star in this film as a mother and son who befriend the new immigrant. [More]

Starring: Adam Sandler, John Turturro, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Nick Swardson

Starring: Adam Sandler, John Turturro, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Nick Swardson, Lainie Kazan, Rob Schneider

Director: Dennis Dugan

Director: Dennis Dugan
Screenwriter: Robert Smigel, Adam Sandler, Judd Apatow
Producer: Adam Sandler, Jack Giarraputo
Composer: Rupert Gregson-Williams
Studio: Sony Pictures Entertainment

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Release:

Oct 7, 2008

[DVD Details]
 
 
  • Comedy superstar Adam Sandler is back - and funnier than ever - as The Zohan, the finest counterterrorist agent the Israeli army has. That is, until he fakes his death and travels to Manhattan to live his dream...as a hairdresser. Now this skilled fighting machine who used to clip bad guys is out to prove he can make the cut as a top stylist. All goes silky smooth until his cover is blown when he's recognized by a Palestinian cab driver (Rob Schneider). Now, The Zohan must fight to live a peaceful new life in New York in this razor-sharp action-packed comedy from Adam Sandler, Robert Smigel, Judd Apatow and Dennis Dugan.
  • Source: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
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    Reviews for You Don't Mess With The Zohan

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    81 - 100 (sorted by date)
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    Cutting to celeb cameos as often as locks of hair fall to the floor of a Supercuts doesn't create comedy -- no more than sticking a person's head in a salon sink means it can wash/cut/style itself.el=1010828&title=Screen Savor Movie Review%3A You Don%27t

    Full Review Source: LivePDX | comment Comment
    06/06/08
    Kimberly Gadette
    Kimberly Gadette
    LivePDX

    The best Mossad agent turned hair stylist movie ever made. Seriously, it's actually really good and fun.

    Full Review Source: Can Magazine | comment Comment
    06/06/08
    Fred Topel
    Fred Topel
    Can Magazine

    Zohan's a shallow character even by Sandler's standards, a bunch of crotch thrusts in search of a laugh.

    Full Review Source: I.E. Weekly | comment Comment
    06/06/08
    Amy Nicholson
    Amy Nicholson
    I.E. Weekly

    In the relatively anemic anthology of recent Adam Sandler flops, You Don't Mess with the Zohan hangs above with comedic charm and a nonsensically amusing plotline. Sandler is the white version of the legendary Tim Meadows character The Ladies Man.

    Full Review Source: HollywoodChicago.com | comment Comment
    06/06/08
    Adam Fendelman
    Adam Fendelman
    HollywoodChicago.com

    A 2-hour opus of sex, sex, sex, sex, sex and more sex. Even drunken frat boys will be screaming, "Enough already, we get it!"

    Full Review Source: WaffleMovies.com | comment Comment
    06/06/08
    Willie Waffle
    Willie Waffle
    WaffleMovies.com

    Three cheers for a crazy wisdom hero who wants to make the world a kinder, gentler place!

    Full Review Source: Spirituality and Practice | comment Comment
    06/06/08
    Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
    Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
    Spirituality and Practice

    You Don't Mess With the Zohan is as messy as comedies come. Much of it, though, is an inspired, hilarious mess.

    Full Review Source: Wall Street Journal | comment Comment
    06/06/08
    Joe Morgenstern
    Joe Morgenstern
    Wall Street Journal
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    If one-note jokes that drag on too long or are worked into the ground aren't enough to trigger comic nausea, then perhaps the myriad uses of hummus will do the trick in You Don't Mess With the Zohan.

    Full Review Source: USA Today | comment Comment
    06/06/08
    Claudia Puig
    Claudia Puig
    USA Today

    Zoolander and the Austin Powers films are essentially one-joke comedies, but the basic joke is funny. Within the first minute -- even before Sandler catches a fish in his ass crack -- it's clear that Zohan's only joke isn't.

    Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment Comment
    06/06/08
    Ken Fox
    Ken Fox
    TV Guide's Movie Guide

    There's a lot to be said for consumerism as a salve for historic wounds. Of course, there's also a drawback to our free market ways -- we get shoes made in China and movies like You Don't Mess with the Zohan.

    Full Review Source: Toronto Star | comment Comment
    06/06/08
    Philip Marchand
    Philip Marchand
    Toronto Star

    It is simultaneously a little bit vulgar and a little bit sentimental and comes out as a virtually bullet-proof blend for the mass, summertime audience.

    Full Review Source: TIME Magazine | comment Comment
    06/06/08
    Richard Schickel
    Richard Schickel
    TIME Magazine
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    The movie may not win Sandler many new fans, but it's a baby step toward making comedies with a bit more substance than, say, The Waterboy.

    Full Review Source: St. Paul Pioneer Press | comment Comment
    06/06/08
    Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
    Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
    St. Paul Pioneer Press

    What might have been an ambitious effort becomes another lousy Sandler movie, endless and tiresome with a handful of funny moments.

    Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | comment Comment
    06/06/08
    Mick LaSalle
    Mick LaSalle
    San Francisco Chronicle
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    You can tsk-tsk Sandler's penchant for dumb, crass humor all you want, but there's some meaning behind his madness. Is there nothing more human, more humbling, than the idea of smelly feet?

    Full Review Source: Salon.com | comment Comment
    06/06/08
    Stephanie Zacharek
    Stephanie Zacharek
    Salon.com
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    Though, as a broad comedy concerned with Israeli-Palestinian relations, Zohan in some ways distinguishes itself as original, it ultimately plays as just another silly Sandler comedy.

    Full Review Source: Sacramento Bee | comment Comment
    06/06/08
    Carla Meyer
    Carla Meyer
    Sacramento Bee

    The result is another flabby comedy that gets its biggest laughs from thinly-covered penises and bare buttocks.

    Full Review Source: ReelViews | comment Comment
    06/06/08
    James Berardinelli
    James Berardinelli
    ReelViews
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    Sandler and his crew -- Judd Apatow was a credited writer -- can't take this movie marriage of ambition and apathy down the aisle.

    Full Review Source: Orlando Sentinel | comment Comment
    06/06/08
    Roger Moore
    Roger Moore
    Orlando Sentinel

    You Don't Mess With the Zohan might actually be the stupidest movie with good intentions that I've ever seen.

    Full Review Source: Oregonian | comment Comment
    06/06/08
    M.E. Russell
    M.E. Russell
    Oregonian

    The direction by Dennis Dugan is flabby and dull -- like most of the hacks-for-hire who end up bringing a Sandler opus to the screen, and whose chief qualification seems to be the ability to shout 'Great, Adam! Great!'

    Full Review Source: Newark Star-Ledger | comment Comment
    06/06/08
    Stephen Whitty
    Stephen Whitty
    Newark Star-Ledger
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    How much you like this will depend upon your appreciation for repeated jokes about hummus, gays, Zohan's crotch and his fondness for older women.

    Full Review Source: New York Post | comment Comment
    06/06/08
    Lou Lumenick
    Lou Lumenick
    New York Post
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic
     
     
    81 - 100 (sorted by date)
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    Latest News for You Don't Mess With The Zohan

    October 05, 2008: This counter-terrorism satire is its own worst enemy. Especially whenever Sandler's whining geek turned combo swaggering assassin hair stylist's too-much-information bulging prosthetic crotch pops up. Opens in new window
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    August 19, 2008: Arab Censors Mess With The Zohan Opens in new window
    In a move that will leave some American filmgoers seething with jealousy, censors in Egypt, Lebanon, and the United Arab Emirates have banned Adam Sandler's You Don't Mess With... More...

    August 16, 2008: NewFilmReview: This counter-terrorism satire is its own worst enemy. Especially whenever Sandler's whining geek turned combo swaggering assassin hair stylist's too-much-information bulging prosthetic crotch pops up. Opens in new window
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