When Adam Sandler‘s film career gained momentum with his dumb but sweet characters in Billy Madison and the Wedding Singer, I wondered if Sandler would ever be able to reveal his toilet-humored, misogynistic side of himself that he regularly expressed on his comedy albums. Movie goers obviously enjoy his goofy, tamer PG-side but would they still love him when they learn that he’s got a darker, more offensive side? Well, he definitely tested the limits (especially for a PG-13 rated film) with You Don’t Mess With the Zohan. Sandler, who co-wrote the script with Judd Apatow and Robert Smigel, let it all hang out with tons of gay jokes, ethnic stereotypes and a odd fixation with Zohan’s bulging manhood. If you’re familiar with Sandler’s comedy albums, most of this stuff is nothing new. But for those viewers expecting another Big Daddy or The Waterboy, it would be a total slap in the face. Now, I’m a long time fan of Sandler’s, dating back to his SNL days but I have to say that this movie stunk to high heaven. If it wasn’t for Sandler and Apatow’s pull in the industry, I’m pretty sure the film would have never been made. I guess the movie studio viewed this as an extension of the Apatow-crude-offensive-humor-R-Us box office empire. But this flick simply was not funny at all. I’m fine with dumb, toilet humor but in this case, Sandler was being offensive just for the sake of being offensive. Take for instance the idea of all the elderly women coming to the hair salon just to have loud, crazy sex with the Zohan. Now talk about “cringeworthy”!! The few jokes that did manage to register, were subsequently bludgeoned to death, over and over again. There’s just too many things that went wrong with the film including the useless Mariah Carey cameo, the Paul Mitchell cameo, the showdown with John Turturro’s Phantom at the end and the “love knows no bounds” happy ending with Emmanuelle Chriqui’s Dalia. It’s really sad to know that people paid their hard earned money to see this stinker of a movie. Sandler and company should really be ashamed.
retroGrade: D-
You Don’t Mess with the Zohan
Director: Dennis Dugan
Starring: Adam Sandler, Emmanuelle Chriqui, John Turturro, Nick Swardson, Rob Schneider, Lainie Kazan
Distributed by Sony, 2008 Rated: PG-13
I was wondering about this movie. I like Sandler too, although I’ve not seen most of his movies. The other night I happened to come across the end bit of an interview with him on the movie. He and Snider said that the humour was more risky, pushing the edge on the Middle East countries. So I found it interesting how they (the jokes and stuff) turned out to seem more stereotypical junk than promoting understanding of the cultures. I wasn’t going to go see it in the theater but I was sorta thinking of Netflix-ing it.
I was wondering about this movie. I like Sandler too, although I’ve not seen most of his movies. The other night I happened to come across the end bit of an interview with him on the movie. He and Snider said that the humour was more risky, pushing the edge on the Middle East countries. So I found it interesting how they (the jokes and stuff) turned out to seem more stereotypical junk than promoting understanding of the cultures. I wasn’t going to go see it in the theater but I was sorta thinking of Netflix-ing it.