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You Don't Mess with the Zohan (2008)

Director: Dennis Dugan

Time Out rating

Average user rating

58 reviews

Movie review

From Time Out London

Combining – perhaps for the first time ever – hypersensitive geopolitics with Spandex groin-bulge jokes, this sees Adam Sandler as a swaggering, bubble-permed Mossad agent who struts around Tel Aviv in denim cut-offs and skin-tight Mariah Carey T-shirts, kicking Palestinian ass. Weary of this cycle of violence, he decides to fake his death and follow his dream of becoming a hairdresser in New York City. This undeniably captivating premise turns out to be another sloppily concocted and naggingly non-controversial pretext for Sandler to pelvic thrust his way though a succession of increasingly wacky fish-out-of-water situations, with the intricacies of the Israeli- Palestinian conflict dusted with sugar and served up as inane plot filler.

Sandler’s Zohan is a garishly sketched melange of Ali G’s gormless ladies man and Borat’s wide-eyed naïf, and despite a screenplay co-written by current comedy sage Judd Apatow, he’s such a jarringly two-dimensional creation that there’s nowhere to send him beyond that sparklingly irreverent set-up. On the plus side, the film does have an amiably dreamlike approach to cultural stereotyping, for some reason plucking hummus, hacky sack and an unspecified orange liquid called ‘Fizzy Bubblech’ from the Israeli character profile to use at the centre of numerous recurring, though frequently uninspired, sight gags. John Turturro – whose scream is one of the most joyous sounds in cinema – picks up some of Sandler’s slack as terrorist and kebab-shop franchisee The Phantom, but it’s not enough to save this odd little mess.

Author: David Jenkins 2008-08-12 11:30:08

Time Out London Issue 1982, August 14-20, 2008

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User reviews of this film

sean said...

Posted on Aug 24 2008 11:36 Funny As Hell.
Even Though I Haven't Seen It. I'm Just Laughing At Your Comments.

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zack said...

Posted on Aug 23 2008 17:53 Pathetic. And how it got under 15 is a mystery. Poor scrpit only got a few half hearted chuckles

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ben said...

Posted on Aug 23 2008 14:04 i agree with martin r it was rascist rubbish with a bonkers storyline i went to see it on the same day as get smart and get smart was way better

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jee said...

Posted on Aug 22 2008 08:59 twas really cool nd funny bt shld hv been a 15

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!!!! said...

Posted on Aug 21 2008 21:54 will peole so goin into detail about how you think it should be rated 18 or anything if it was that bad they woyldnt have made it a 12a now would they all people need to no is if you liked it

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Benjamin said...

Posted on Aug 21 2008 20:14 Truly Brilliant as with all adam sandlers movies! very entertaining and extremly funny,

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jo said...

Posted on Aug 21 2008 16:58 I wish i had read these reviews before taking my 11 year old to the film. He loved it but was a little shocked by the sexual content which was pretty constant. Funny film but should have been a 15, the only saving grace being that as a lot of slang was used some of the innuendo went over his head. I was cringing in my seat the whole way through!

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finn said...

Posted on Aug 21 2008 13:24 i did not enjoy this film but I disagree with people saying it shouldn't be for 12 year olds becaus they're the only ones who find the film's humour funny and anyway kids are not idiots they know about violence and sex and all that stuff so theres no point shielding them from it. Without 12 year olds this film would not have sold a ticket barely.

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Not blinkered and proud said...

Posted on Aug 21 2008 12:06 Oh "Mother" please don't be so patronising lovie ... who ARE you? Mary Whitehouse?

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Mother said...

Posted on Aug 21 2008 11:12 The film was very funny except for one part where he seemed to be desperate for laughs and at this point the humour became too gross. However, it has in my opinion been misclassified, it should have been rated 18 due to some of the content that I do not feel young people need to see, some of the sexual imagery and the scene with the cat should have been cut if it was going to be rated 12A. It is not for children. Based on the misclassification I can only rate it 2 stars, otherwise it would have had 4 or 5

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jane said...

Posted on Aug 20 2008 23:20 It was amazing it was really funny!!!
i would definitey reccomend it to 12's and above!!
It's not a waste of time, not a waste of money and its deffo not a bore.
So some peopledon't know a good film whn they see one!!!!

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??? said...

Posted on Aug 20 2008 14:19 martinR were you actually watching this film or did you have a blind fold on and just listen to what was said i totally disagree and this film is a 100% go see :)

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cutie said...

Posted on Aug 20 2008 12:42 dont write a comment unless you have seen the movie ive seen it and think its good please hold your tong on the bad languege

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MartinR said...

Posted on Aug 19 2008 23:59 This was awful - racist rubbish, not funny well you might like it if you though Bernard Manning type jokes about 'pakis & Wogs' was OK. I hated this made me very angry. The idea its all a problem because people just won't stop hating each other and its both sides fault only works if your politicaly illiterate. Not clever, not ironic rubbish

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Jay said...

Posted on Aug 19 2008 13:49 This was fantastic! I liked the bit with the feet.
He's just like 'SMELL ITTT,SMELL ITTT NOW TAKE IT!' ;D
Awesome.
Lol.
Todays my 12th birthday and i went to watch it :D

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