• Release Date: 2008-10-07
• Genre: Comedy
• Artist Name: Anna Berger, Shelley Berman, Michael Buffer, Mariah Carey, John Paul De Joria, Cynthia Frost, Lainie Kazan, Bunny Levine, Barry Livingston, Kristen Lowman
• Director: Dennis Dugan
• AMG Rating:
• MPAA Rating: PG13
• Category: Feature Films
• Cautions: Adult Humor, Nudity, Profanity
• Year: 2008
• Running Time: 113
• Movie Country of Origin: USA
• Available Language: English
• Subtitles: KO/TH/Fre/Eng
  

Judd Apatow teams up with his former roommate Adam Sandler to write a star comedy vehicle for the actor in You Don't Mess With the Zohan, the tale of an Israeli commando who fakes his own death so he can follow his dream -- to be a hairstylist in New York City. I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry's Dennis Dugan directs for Happy Madison Productions and Columbia Pictures. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, Rovi

Comedy

Going Undercover, Assumed Identities

Goofy, Raunchy, Madcap, Silly

DVD Features

• Commentary with Adam Sandler, Robert Smigel, Rob Schneider & Nick Swardson
• Commentary with director Dennis Dugan
• Deleted scenes
• 15 behind-the-scenes featurettes: Look Who Stopped By, Dugan, the Hand's On Director, the Stunts of Zohan, Dugon Espaņol?, Zohan vs. the Phantom, Zohan's Doubles, Shooting Baja for Tel Aviv, All American Redneck, From Guns to Scissors, Three "News" Reports, the Robot, Getting Sticky, Laughing Is Contagioius
• Includes both rated and unrated versions of the film
• BD exclusive: Translating the Zohan: Graphics-in-picture track

Review

If the key to good comedy is the surprise of seeing something clever and new, then You Don't Mess with the Zohan is really good comedy for about 30 minutes. The impressive screenwriting team of Judd Apatow, Robert Smigel, and Adam Sandler dreamed up a truly unique character for Sandler to play: an Israeli super-spy capable of outrageous feats of cunning, acrobatics, physical flexibility, and brute strength. We've never seen a guy quite like this, and for the first act, he leaps between buildings, punches through walls, punishes bad guys, and lures babes, all without ever breaking a sweat. Sandler is downright alluring in his full beard, flowing curls, tattered shirt, and cut-off blue jeans, and the character exudes effortless cool. So it's an inevitable disappointment when the action shifts to New York, and the Zohan takes residency in a salon owned by a Palestinian love interest (Emmanuelle Chriqui) to live out his dream of becoming a hairdresser. Not only does he lose the beard and locks in favor of a hairdo several decades out of fashion, but he adds what becomes a trademark additional service for the old ladies who patronize the salon: he boffs them in the back room after completing their haircut. This joke is symbolic of the way the screenwriters lose focus -- not only is it a lot less funny than they think, but they flog it endlessly. At this point, the quick first-act pacing grinds to a halt as the viewer's initial optimism curdles into impatience for the 113-minute running time to expire. Perhaps 113 minutes of the Zohan beating up enemy combatants would have also grown tiresome. But 90 minutes split between culture clashes and fist smashes -- and with much less elderly intercourse -- could have made Zohan special, rather than just sufficient. ~ Derek Armstrong, Rovi