You Don't Mess with the Zohan.

Review #1106: You Don't Mess with the Zohan.

Cast: 
Adam Sandler (Zohanelen "Zohan" Dvir/Scrappy Coco), John Turturro (Fatoush "Phantom" Hakbarah), Emmanuelle Chriqui (Dalia Hakbarah), Nick Swardson (Michael Klayman), Lainie Kazan (Gail Klayman), Ido Mosseri (Oori), Rob Schneider (Salim), Dave Matthews (James T. O'Skanlon), Michael Buffer (Grant Walbridge), Sayed Badreya (Hamdi), and Daoud Heidami (Nasi) Directed by Dennis Dugan (#045 - Just Go With It and #345 - Happy Gilmore)

Review: 
The best thing one can say about this movie is that is isn't offensive to the senses in terms of entertainment, just merely being a film freely and willfully being vulgar with only a small semblance of plot, even if I don't think it's as funny as it sure think it is. What can one expect from a movie with three writers listed in the credits in Sandler, Robert Smigel and Judd Apatow, which had apparently been written in 2000 that was based in part off the real life story of commando-turned-hairstylist Nezi Arbib. Obviously this is something that can't be taken too seriously, as evidenced by the numerous corny and predictable moments, but I'm not letting the movie slide on lazy coasting, which also applies in some part to its plot. The premise of the film gets old after a while, in part because there isn't enough to watch besides vulgar gags (or ones involving hummus) that make something interesting to hold for more than a hour for something that lasts 112 minutes. With Sandler, he can be amusing at times, when he doesn't play himself too ridiculously in dumb humor, being fairly watchable. Turturro is okay, but he isn't too particularly amusing. Chriqui does okay in playing the straight one to the assortment of situations that go on without being too far into the background. The most noteworthy person is Buffer, playing the cliche corporate guy okay for someone who is better know for ring announcing. The rest of the cast is okay at generating mild laughs. At least the film is silly enough to where it doesn't fall prey to too many broad stereotypes. It is entirely possible that this would work better as a television sketch (or perhaps a comedy video on the internet), where you wouldn't have to worry so much about crafting a story beyond a bare minimum, as is the case here. You could even keep one cameo in the film, instead of the endless ones that occur here, from Chris Rock as a taxi driver to Henry Winkler and John McEnroe as themselves and so on (with various quality in said effectiveness). On the surface, this is a movie that works best for people looking for a ridiculous time with vulgar-ness and other aspects that you would probably expect from a Sandler film. Do I hate it? I can't care about the material enough to really think of this junk as anything to say harsh words. If you can sit back and enjoy what goes on, good for you, but for me this was a pretty lame thing to sit through.

Overall, I give it 5 out of 10 stars.