| Review Date: Director: Dennis Dugan Writer: Adam Sandler, Judd Apatow, Robert Smigel Producers: Adam Sandler, Jack Giarraputo Actors: Adam Sandler as Zohan Emmanuelle Chriqui as Dalia John Turturro as The Phantom |
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I didn’t really “get into” that stuff, or the numerous scenes in which Sandler is either patting his penis or rubbing it up against people, but that aside, I really enjoyed all of the hummus jokes, all of the stuff involving the seemingly endless “war” between the Israelis and Palestinians, and all of Sandler’s super-human tomfoolery. That said, my parents grew up in that area of the world, so I kinda absorbed some of that shit myself, including hummus on the dinner table every now and then (although I can’t say we ever brushed our teeth with it…hilarious!), but suspect that the film might not “play” that well across the board, seeing as there were a number of jokes that were based on habits and words known to folks from that area, but not necessarily everyone else (the same can be said about the aggressive electronics salespeople in NY city…will everyone get those in-jokes?). That said, I cracked up more than I didn’t, and even though the film ended a little weakly (a hacky-sack tournament and an awful cameo by Mariah Carey), I did appreciate the “message” that it brought to the forefront, which was the Rodney King mantra of the century: “Can’t we all just get along?” John Turturro was also fun as The Phantom and Emmanuelle Chriqui is just plain hot, so two more reasons to check the film out. Heck, even Rob Schneider wasn’t terribly annoying here.
All in all, I cracked up during a lot of this movie, and to be honest, I think I probably missed some of the jokes too, since many of the peeps in the film sported accents that were hard to decipher at times. I look forward to watching it again on DVD though, with subtitles on and my pants off! Whatever that means. And hummus all over my nachos, of course.