Critics panned it. Roger Ebert gave it one star. Audiences were confused. It was too weird to be a standard action spoof and too juvenile to be a political commentary. Yet, nearly two decades later, The Zohan stands as one of the most audacious, misunderstood, and genuinely prescient satires ever to come out of the Hollywood studio system. For the uninitiated, the film follows Zohan Dvir (Sandler), an elite Israeli counter-terrorist commando who fakes his own death so he can abandon the "start-up nation" for his true dream: becoming a hair stylist in New York City. He ends up in a predominantly Palestinian neighborhood in Queens, working for a salon owned by a beautiful Palestinian woman, Dalia (Emmanuelle Chriqui).
Sandler and co-writers Judd Apatow and Robert Smigel refuse to play by the rules of "respectable" political discourse. They don't give a solemn monologue about peace. Instead, they have a scene where a Palestinian man teaches an Israeli man how to properly insert a pager into a rectum to fool a metal detector. It is crass, vulgar, and somehow the most effective peace negotiation ever put on film. The casting is a secret weapon. John Turturro, a serious actor from Coen Brothers films, plays The Phantom with a ridiculous cat-like hiss. Rob Schneider shows up as a salivating, aggressive street vendor who sells "scratchy" towels. Dave Matthews plays a racist redneck. The film creates a world where everyone is a cartoon.
We don't need generals. We don't need politicians. We need a guy who can roundhouse kick a terrorist, then stop to tell him his split ends are looking tragic. the great zohan
By Alex Ripley
It is not a great film in the traditional sense. It is too long. Some jokes have aged poorly (the electroshock therapy "gag" is a tough watch). But as a text, it is fascinating. It suggests that Adam Sandler, hidden behind a tan and a terrible perm, might have made the most radical anti-war statement of the 21st century. Critics panned it
This universality levels the playing field. The movie doesn't laugh at Israelis or Palestinians; it laughs with them. It pokes fun at the hyper-masculinity of Mossad agents (who spend their downtime lifting weights in speedos) and the entrepreneurial stubbornness of Palestinian shopkeepers. The joke is that the blood feud is stupid, and the only logical conclusion is to relax, get a perm, and have a barbecue. Watching You Don’t Mess with the Zohan today is a surreal experience. In an era of heightened tension and discourse dominated by algorithmic rage, Zohan’s simple solution—"Stop being a dick, get a career you love, and share a pita"—feels less like a stupid joke and more like a lost prophecy.
4 out of 5 stars. Not for the easily offended, the humorless, or those who think hummus is just a dip. For everyone else? Let’s go make some silky smooth. It was too weird to be a standard
In 2008, the world was a very different place. Gas prices were spiking, the War on Terror was in its seventh year, and Adam Sandler was the undisputed king of a very specific brand of lucrative, low-brow comedy. When the trailer dropped for You Don’t Mess with the Zohan , audiences saw the same formula they expected: Sandler with a funny accent, slapstick violence, and a scene involving a fish (or in this case, a bottle of Sprite) used in an inappropriate manner.