You Don’t Mess With The Zohan

Adam Sandler co-writes and stars in this high-spirited comedy as crotch-thrusting, disco-dancing Israeli hero “the Zohan”, a counter-terrorist who has a dream of simply cutting hair.

Zohan is a loveably bizarre, inflated stereotype of a man in the mould of Austin Powers, Zoolander or Borat, complete with raging hormones and an imperviousness to social norms.

Armed with a Paul Mitchell book from the 1980s, he fakes his own death and reinvents himself in New York as hairstylist Scrappy Coco. On a street lined with discount Israeli stores on one side and Palestinian on the other, Zohan’s false identity gains him employment at a salon on (gasp!) the Palestinian side.

Cheerfully clueless about American society, Sandler’s hot-pants-clad character is recognised as he persists in apparently typical Israeli crime-fighter ways. As he brazenly brushes his teeth with hummus and provides popular “extra services” to mature lady customers at the salon, enemies from his former life close in on him.

Although many of the film’s crass, slapstick jokes are disappointingly familiar, director Dennis Dugan does offer something new in choosing to tackle the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The cast features stars from a variety of ethnic backgrounds, if not always the correct ones for their character, and merrily mocks every minority group around.

Unfortunately, the characterisation is in general pretty simplistic: Palestinian furniture sellers who dote on their goats work opposite Israelis selling cut-price, shoddy electronics. Rednecks just hate everyone.

The narrative persistently repeats the message that Zohan and his neighbours don’t realise how similar they really are. In America, they are united by their Middle Eastern heritage and collective passion for cut-price merchandise, Mariah Carey and hacky-sack.

They also possess a convenient common enemy in the evil corporation that is trying to take over the street where Zohan works to build a hotel complete with rooftop swimming pool.

There are a few decent and mildly satirical jokes nestling in here. The Hezbollah helpline informs amateur terrorists, “We’ll resume providing terrorist supplies as soon as current negotiations break down”; and Zohan’s mother encouragingly tells her son, “We’ve been fighting for 2000 years, I’m sure it’ll be over soon”.

However, any social commentary is largely lost in silly gags and the conclusion of this film is predictable and irrelevant. Although some jokes may provoke moments of discomfort as they sail close to the line, ultimately the film is too shallow to say much more about war than it does about hairdressing.

The script is undeniably fun and the energetic cast bounce neatly back from the bad jokes to keep the audience giggling. Nevertheless, the attempt at a political twist on this type of dumb comedy falls far short of the mark. Wanton machismo and celebrity appearances make the film that bit more irritating and its use of the basest stereotypes fails to make any particularly progressive point.

You Don’t Mess With The Zohan is symbolic of a modern age where it’s possible to find humour in the most serious and topical of subjects. But I doubt the world will watch this and learn how to laugh in unison.

Last edited: 7th May 2009