Adam Sandler: Action Star?
Image Courtesy Reelviews.net
Director: Dennis Dugan
Notable Cast: Adam Sandler, Nick Swardson, John Turturro
With the advent of things like YouTube and the proliferation of comedy groups in the last 10 years, a simple “fish out of water” action comedy is much more difficult to do than ever before because of the amount of humor needed. The first Austin Powers worked in the 1990s because the jokes involving a 1960s British Spy in modern American pretty much wrote themselves. The standard has been raised immensely; a film like Hot Rod last year would’ve been a brilliant comedy if it was released in 1995. In 2007, it’s a second tier comedy to films like Knocked Up and Superbad. The same feeling you get for that film you feel after watching You Don’t Mess with the Zohan. It would’ve felt a bit fresher in the 1990s, when Adam Sandler was starting out, as opposed to now in mid-career. It’s a funny film, and Sandler continue to push himself by going for different parts as opposed to his usual “screaming guy” routine, but in light of recent comedies it doesn’t compare.
Sandler stars as the titular character Zohan, a Mossad agent who is one part James Bond and one part Arnold Schwarzenegger. Zohan is Israel’s go to guy when bad guys need to be killed; the film opens with an electric action sequence worthy of a good 80s action film. Zohan is sick of the fighting and wants to pursue his passion: hair. His dream is to work at the Paul Mitchell Hair Salon, but his family laughs at his pursuits. Finding a way to fake his death in a fight with his arch-nemesis, the Phantom (John Turturro), Zohan relocates to NYC in pursuit of his hair-cutting dream. Taking the name of Scrappy CoCo, ostensibly after the two Sheepdogs whose crate he stayed in as he hitched an airplane ride, Zohan arrives in New York and the film focuses on his pursuit of hair-cutting excellence while dealing with extended Palestinian-Israeli relations in New York.
Purely as a farce, Zohan is a salute to the sort of improbable action films that had the same “fish out of water” concepts in the 1980s. It’s amusing to think of a ripped Adam Sandler trying to cut hair, but in the context of what he’s trying to do it’s no more eye-rolling than Arnold Schwarzenegger as a school teacher. It works because it’s so over the top that it can’t be taken seriously. There are plenty of easy jokes made based on the hairdresser concept alone to make it entertaining; Sandler, as always, goes for the easy joke more often than not. It’s his forte and he’s made a good living, as well as several good films, doing it. The Sandler comedy is low-brow and not too intellectually stimulating, but that’s the purpose of watching his kind of film. It allows you to laugh at the stupid things of life, as opposed to looking for some grander comedic statement.
Zohan, however, for all its good doesn’t feel like a modern comedy. As a parody of films like Kindergarten Cop it would’ve been more appropriate in 1993 as opposed to 2008. The film doesn’t do as much with the “fish out of water” concept as it could’ve, instead relying on the usual sorts of bodily function and toilet humor that have made Sandler millions over the years. It relies on the setup more than the execution, as the easy joke is often made at the expense of the better joke. This would’ve been fine 10-20 years ago, but unfortunately comedy has changed somewhat.
In the last several years, the art of the comedy has changed drastically. You Don’t Mess with the Zohan is a comedy that aims low and manages to hit the mark.
FINAL RATING (ON A SCALE OF 1-5 BUCKETS):
