Lets start with that Poster. I love it only because I have not seen it until this moment and it is absoultly ludacris. But in a good way. Like the movie.
I must preface by saying my favorite Adam Sandler/ Happy Madison comedy movies are easily "Little Nicky" "Click" and also "You Don't Mess With The Zohan". The Wedding Singer is also nice, but for some reason Sandlers troupe and taste in comedy irks me a bit. However, in "Zohan" it all works perfectly.
People may have forgotton that Apatow did a draft of "The Wedding Singer," and this is not his first forray with Sandler, nor will it be his last. Next year the two unite in yet another movie featuring Seth Rogen, but for now, lets talk about the movie at hand.
Zohan is a delightful little film filled with zany laughs and fun gags, as well as a tad of heart. The Zohan (Sandler) is the best anti-terrorist unit in the Israeli army, but has grown tired of his life of sex, beach, and kicking ass. So he fakes his death in a fight against "The Phantom" (John Tuturro) so he can move to New York and be a hair stylist. Which he does and is quite happy with until his past finally catches up to him, as we as viewers all knew it would.
Filled with hillarious sight gags and some suprisingly nicely coreographed action, Zohan crashes throughout Israel and New York. Emmanuelle Chriqui puts in some nice acting as the attractive Palestinian hair dresser, who the Zohan falls for. She is a very likeable character, though not to funny, is always a pleasure to have on screen.
Rob Schnieder pulls off a role that is actually tolerable for once as the secondary taxi driving antagonist of the film. Nick Swarsden and Sayed Badreya play the minor leads in the film Swarsden as the guy who rooms with the Zohan and Sayed as the number two hezbolah terrorist. Chris Rock and Kevin James make some very unnecessry and slightly odd cameos and random people in the film who have little or no consequence to the films outcome.
Sandler and Tuturro are hillarious as the protagonist and antagonist of the film, acting as perfect foils to each other with questionable accents, but hillarious none the less. While Sandler alias "Scrappy Coco" sucks the rest of his character is hillarious and scene stealing in every scene he is in, rightfully so, since he is the star. When Tuturro is on screen there seems to be a small struggle for power, but they always align and work out fine each scene they are both in.
Dennis Dugan could direct a fantastic action film if he set his mind to it, and Zohan is never quite sure what type of film it is, though it delivers well every other shot. It is nowhere near the best comedy ever made, but it has some very good laughs and a nice rewatch at a party value.
Some people are concerned with the idea that the film may glorify Israeli's and Put down Palestinians, but while the film starts off with that as a possible angle, most offenses are avoided and it is shown how the two can co-exist happily and peacefully in society, and how life is not so different for each when they are set in a new unfamilar world like New York and that they must put aside thier differences to make the best life for each other possible.
Go see the film, you'll get a chuckle and when you are throwing a party later in the future you will know exactly what to put on.
