You Don't Mess with the Zohan

I'm all for a good stupid comedy. I believe whole heartily in the importance of some films allowing you to stop thinking and to just sit back and laugh. You Don't Mess with the Zohan decides to take this route, but also tries to infuse some intelligence in its writing by interweaving some political debate. Usually one would not expect this from an Adam Sandler vehicle, but don't hold your breath. 'Zohan's' jokes and gags get to the point of being so juvenile and have so little thought behind them that when it does try to incorporate its solution to the world's problems, it doesn't have a leg to stand on.

Zohan (Adam Sandler) is Israel's number one answer when it comes to taking down any threat. His unexplained superhuman ability to eliminate any terrorist is adored by his nation but is not enough to stop him from going into hiding to pursue his life's dream; hairstyling. As Zohan tries to reinvent himself in a struggling salon in New York City, word of mouth quickly spreads about his unorthodox method of cutting hair, especially amongst the ladies. As fellow Arabs try to sniff out his true identity, Zohan is forced to defend the destruction of the salon from an overzealous mall tycoon without others discovering his renegade past.

This is one of the first films I have seen that explores the Arab-American community from their perspective, but it really just comes off as crass when Sandler, Rob Schneider and John Turturro are lamenting about the hate-driven feud between the Israelites and the Palestinians. I'm not questioning their Jewish faith at all, but can you really be taken seriously when you bring up such issues in the dialogue and then have an action sequence where the bad guys get hosed down by large amounts of humus? You can certainly blend comedy with hard-hitting issues, but this film treats its topic with severe disrespect.

I cringe when I see Sandler in these types of roles. He has so much potential and has shown it in other films (Punch-Drunk Love, Spanglish). I believe when he is lackadaisical in roles like this one, he's still good. I just know he could bring some originality to the table, but he lets this movie unfold into adolescent antics. Cameos in comedies always bring a real world familiarity to a nonsensical plot, but instead of a throw away laugh, the celebrity appearances in this film are either not funny or just don't make any sense.

This is one of the most sexually charged PG-13 rated movies I've seen in a long time. All the bare backsides and sexual innuendo are meant solely for laughs, but the scenes just makes you cringe with embarrassment for all the wrong reasons. There is also some language and comic-like violence, but it's the sexual vulgarity that would make me uncomfortable taking any teenager too. Writers Sandler, Robert Smigel (Triumph the Insult Comic Dog) and Judd Apatow (Knocked Up) are to blame for this mess of a script. If you didn't know that Hollywood comedic talents in their 40's were behind this project, you would have thought this came out of the boy's bathroom stall from your local high school. I give 'Zohan' 1 out of 5 Mariah Carey T-shirts.