You Don't Mess with the Zohan |
For me, the funniest moment in this benighted Judd Apatow project directed by Dennis Dugan was in the trailer. Adam Sandler doing a no-arm push-up — how I laughed! Now, having watched the whole film, I’ve paid the price for that moment of mirth: two hours of bad accents, infantile humor, inept editing, and ugly cinematography. On the other hand, it’s one of the few recent films — along with Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantánamo Bay and Standard Operating Procedure — to confront the War on Terror. When he’s not scoring babes on the beach with his hacky-sack skills, Sandler’s Zohan neutralizes terrorists for the Mossad. Tired of the fighting, he fakes his death and heads to New York to become a hair stylist. There he learns that the bad guys aren’t the Palestinians but real-estate developers and neo-Nazis. Unless your taste runs to hummus jokes and sexually abused elderly women, don’t mess with the Zohan. 113 minutes | Boston Common + Fenway + Fresh Pond + Circle/Chestnut Hill + suburbs
