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 & 2 nominations.

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

Harbouring an ardent desire to be the best in the cut-throat world of hairdressers, the Mossad's finest agent, Zohan, seizes the opportunity to call it quits by faking his death, after a fierce battle with his arch-nemesis, Phantom. In high hopes of making his dream come true in New York, the ambitious Zohan lands a job in the stylish hair salon of the beautiful Palestinian, Dalia, and things seem to work as planned; until a man from the past blows his cover. Now, the Zohan must fight tooth and nail to keep his new lifestyle, and in the meantime, try to win the heart of his boss. Can Zohan's dazzling hairstyling techniques save the world?

---

Plot Keywords:

hair stylist | palestinian | funny arab | arab israeli conflict | super strength | 

---

Taglines:

Lather. Rinse. Save the world.

---

Genres:

Comedy

---

Certificate:

14A

Did You Know?

Trivia

Zohan isn't an actual Israeli first name.

---

Goofs

When you first see Mr. Walbridge in the boardroom with his team, the conference room appears to be as high as the 40th floor, yet you can hear street traffic as if it was at street level. Also, the windows are ceiling to floor and don't open, so there would be no street noise. The boardroom was actually a set built on a sound stage at Sony Culver Studios, any traffic noise was added in post production as a sound effect, mistakenly or otherwise.

---

Quotes

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

---

Alternate Versions

The unrated version runs almost four minutes longer than the theatrical version and includes many extended scenes.

---

Connections

Featured in WatchMojo: Top 10 Insanely Expensive Comedy Movies (2017)

---

Soundtracks

Fantasy
Written by Mariah Carey, Tina Weymouth, Chris Frantz (as Christopher Frantz), Adrian Belew, Steven Stanley and Dave Hall
Performed by Mariah Carey
Courtesy of Columbia Records
By Arrangement with Sony BMG Music Entertainment
Contains a Sample of "Genius of Love"
Performed by Tom Tom Club
Courtesy of Warner Bros. Records Inc.
By Arrangement with Warner Music Group Film & TV Licensing and Courtesy of The Island Def Jam Music Group
Under license from Universal Music Enterprises and Courtesy of Metered Music Inc.

User Reviews

Not as bad as everyone says.

While I've never been a -huge- fan of Adam Sandler's films, I have watched them and laughed throughout most of them. I'm the type of guy who enjoys some slapstick, some raunchy humor, and a lot of zanyness.

I went into Zohan not expecting anything but pure frivolous humor. You don't go into films like this with any expectations, and I think that's where a lot of the reviewers prior to myself went wrong. They went in expecting to see an evolution of Sandler's humor, and while I would say that Zohan raised the bar a tad, it's still Adam Sandler. Yes, it's going to have a corny ending, a lot of physical humor, and a healthy dose of humor aimed at the more intelligent in the crowd as well.

Overall, I couldn't stop giggling, laughing, and chuckling throughout most of the film. After a long streak of not seeing any humor films, I thought it was the perfect thing to bring me back to comedies. The last few years, especially, have been incredibly lackluster in regards to comedies (if that's what evolution of the genre is, count me out, by the way), and I found Zohan refreshing.

I think another thing a lot of the other reviewers missed, is that the film in no way expected to take itself seriously. The only serious moments were cheesy, predictable, and ultimately corny, which is irony in itself and only contributed to my bemused chuckling. Yes, a lot of the humor bordered on racial stereotyping, there were a lot of over-the-top accents and allusions to the Middle East, so if you're the type to get touchy about that, feel free to skip. I found it to be a rather hilarious joke on the seriousness that everybody applies to the stereotyping. The stereotyping is, actually, rather fair and towards the end even shows plenty of "good stereotyping" (as accurate as stereotyping ever is, which is to say, rarely).

Really, the film laughs at itself. Are there some bum moments? Certainly, but it seems that's been the case for almost every film I've seen in the last few years, but it was grand seeing the cast and crew not try to make this the 'next great comedy' and just have a buttload of fun.

And if the cast and crew are laughing at themselves (which you can clearly feel through the screen), you can't help but laugh with them.

If you want to spend an hour or two snickering and have an open mind, give Zohan a shot. Don't expect an evolution of comedy. Don't expect the bar to be raised, because that's not what this film was trying to do. It was trying to be ridiculous and make people utter that ever so fantastic groaning-giggle followed by the heart chuckle.

Don't let the other critics fool you, they've probably forgotten the meaning of the word 'satire'.

Details

Official Sites:

Sony Pictures [United States]

Country:

USA

Language:

English Hebrew

Release Date:

6 June 2008 (Canada)

Also Known As:

On ne rigole pas avec le Zohan

Filming Locations:

Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur, Mexico

Box Office

Budget:

$90,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$38,531,374, 8 June 2008

Gross USA:

$100,018,837

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$204,313,400

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures, Relativity Media, Happy Madison Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

113 min 117 min (Unrated Edition)

Sound Mix:

SDDS Dolby Digital DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1