You Don't Mess with the Zohan (2008)

An Israeli Special Forces Soldier fakes his death so he can re-emerge in New York City as a hair stylist.

Director:

Dennis Dugan

Writers:

Adam Sandler, Robert Smigel,

Stars:

Adam Sandler, John Turturro, Emmanuelle Chriqui

2 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Adam Sandler	...	Zohan
John Turturro	...	Phantom
Emmanuelle Chriqui	...	Dalia
Nick Swardson	...	Michael
Lainie Kazan	...	Gail
Ido Mosseri	...	Oori
Rob Schneider	...	Salim
Dave Matthews	...	James
Michael Buffer	...	Walbridge
Charlotte Rae	...	Mrs. Greenhouse
Sayed Badreya	...	Hamdi
Daoud Heidami	...	Nasi
Kevin Nealon	...	Kevin
Robert Smigel	...	Yosi
Dina Doron	...	Zohan's Mother (as Dina Doronne)

Storyline

Zohan Dvir works as a Special Agent and lives with his orthodox parents in Israel. He wants to give up this life full of dangerous encounters with Palestinians. While in the process of apprehending a Palestinian activist known simply as the Phantom, he fakes his death, hides in a dog-kennel on a plane bound for New York, and decides to try his hand as a hair-stylist. He is refused employment initially, but when he offers to work for free, Dahlia hires him as a cleaner. When a hair-stylist named Debbie quits, Zohan replaces her, winning over elderly female clientèle, and falling in love with Dahlia herself. Before Zohan could propose to her, Dahlia's landlord, Walbridge, who has been raising rents regularly, hires skinhead goons to terrorize the neighborhood, creates misunderstandings between Jews, Muslims, Arabs, and Palestinians, and drives them out, so as to enable him to construct a new building which is topped by a roller coaster. When Zohan decides to confront these skinheads, he...

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Plot Keywords:

palestinian | hair stylist | muslim | israeli | jew | 

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Taglines:

He's silky, smooth and harder than trigonometry!

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Genres:

Action | Comedy | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for crude and sexual content throughout, language and nudity

Details

Official Sites:

Sony Pictures [fr] Sony Pictures [us]

Country:

USA

Language:

English Hebrew

Release Date:

6 June 2008 (USA)

Also Known As:

No te metas con Zohan

Filming Locations:

Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur, Mexico

Box Office

Budget:

$90,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£1,520,637 (UK) (15 August 2008)

Gross:

£5,200,666 (UK) (5 September 2008)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures, Relativity Media, Happy Madison Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

113 min

Sound Mix:

SDDS Dolby Digital DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Throughout the film, Zohan and other Israeli characters use various Hebrew words and phrases, including: Aba (father), Ima (Mother), b'seder (okay), and Yiddish words, including: faygelah (homosexual), tuches (butt).

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Goofs

When Zohan is attempting to find Phantom and throws one of his goons off of the banister, you can see the ropes that are attached to him as he falls.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Danny: You don't mess with the Zohan!

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Connections

Spoofs The Addams Family (1991)

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Soundtracks

"Time Will Change"
Written by Frantic, Jazz Ramsey and Kevan Frost
Performed by Caroldene Black
Courtesy of Lovecat Music
By Arrangement with Ocean Park Music Group

User Reviews

Very Funny

I have been coming to IMDb for movie reviews for a few years now and have never commented on a movie...until now. I must say that I was personally a bit confused when I saw the rating on this movie. I expected it to be much higher. (currently a 5.8) The theater was packed on the day I went to see this (opening weekend)...and I went with 6 other people. All of us laughed a lot and left the theater talking about how we thought it was a very funny movie. Consistently the remarks were that we didn't expect it to be so good! The laughs in the theater were very loud and seemed to be coming from throughout the auditorium. Perhaps this humor isn't for everyone but it never occurred to me until now that there would be so many lower ratings. I say this because I most always feel the reviews here at IMDb are right on and rely upon them for my movie going choices. My wife feels the same way about this...very confused at the lower score. Oh well...each to their own as humor is unique to each individual. My recommendation: For anyone considering this movie...if you like Adam Sandler, over the top sexual humor and just plain weird material....see this movie.