You Don't Mess with the Zohan (2008)

Director:

Dennis Dugan

Writers (WGA):

Adam Sandler (written by) &
Robert Smigel (written by) ...

Release Date:

6 June 2008 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Comedy | Drama

Tagline:

Lather. Rinse. Save the world.

Plot:

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

Plot Keywords:

Palestinian | Soldier | Israeli | Landlord | New York City

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Adam Sandler	...	Zohan Dvir
John Turturro	...	The Phantom / Fatoush
Emmanuelle Chriqui	...	Dahlia
Nick Swardson	...	Michael
Lainie Kazan	...	Gail
Ido Mosseri	...	Oori
Rob Schneider	...	Salim
Dave Matthews	...	James
Michael Buffer	...	Walbridge
Charlotte Rae	...	Mrs. Greenhouse
Keana Texeira	...	Rock-throwing Girl
Sayed Badreya	...	Hamdi
Daoud Heidami	...	Nasi
Kevin Nealon	...	Kevin
Robert Smigel	...	Yosi

Also Known As:

No te metas con Zohan (Argentina) (Mexico) (Peru) (Venezuela) [es]
Agent Zohan (Japan: English title) [en]
Jiddra inte med Zohan (Sweden) [sv]
Leg dich nicht mit Zohan an (Germany) [de]
Não te Metas com o Zohan (Portugal) [pt]
Nie zadzieraj z fryzjerem (Poland) [pl]
On ne rigole pas avec le Zohan (Canada: French title) [fr]
Rien que pour vos cheveux (France) [fr]
Zohan (Denmark) [da]
Zohan - Licencia para peinar (Spain) [es]
Zohan - O Agente Bom de Corte (Brazil) [pt]
Zohan - Tutte le donne vengono al pettine (Italy) [it]
Zohan - eriväelasest juuksur (Estonia) [et]
Zohan - lupa saksia (Finland) [fi]
Zohan je zakon! (Croatia) [hr]
Zohan'a Bulasma (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]
Zohan: Praktoras ypsilis kommotikis (Greece) [el]

MPAA:

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

Runtime:

113 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Hebrew

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

SDDS | Dolby Digital | DTS

Certification:

Australia:M | Singapore:NC-16 | USA:PG-13 (certificate #44058) | Ireland:15A | UK:12A | Sweden:11 | Finland:K-13 | Canada:14A (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba/Nova Scotia/Ontario) | Canada:G (Quebec) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Netherlands:12 | South Korea:15 | Philippines:PG-13 (MTRCB) | Germany:6 | Hong Kong:IIB | Malaysia:U | Portugal:M/12 | Norway:11 | Argentina:16 | India:A (cinema release) | Peru:14 | Austria:12 | Denmark:7 | Iceland:10 | New Zealand:M

Filming Locations:

Backlot, Universal Studios - 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, California, USA

Company:

Happy Madison Productions

Trivia:

Adam Sandler's longtime friend and former college roommate Eric Lamonsoff, who was previously mentioned in both The Wedding Singer (1998) and Click (2006/I), makes his film debut here as Hamdi's passenger.

Goofs:

Factual errors: Israel plays Lebanon in the hacky sack tournament, yet the Israeli flag is shown with the Palestinian flag.

Quotes:

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

Movie Connections:

Spoofs The Addams Family (1991)

Soundtrack:

More Samples and Effects

It Was Funny

I read over the reviews from other IMDb users and am surprised how many mentioned that this film is "racist" or "insensitive". It begs the question: Are people going into to ADAM SANDLER films searching for serious or deep social and political commentary? This movie is a comedy and it stars Adam Sandler if you walk into that theater expecting anything except a stupid-funny movie then you need to instead leave the theater to go home and hit yourself in the face with a rock, after all it can't do more damage to your brain.

In the most simple of terms this movie stars Adam Sandler if you do not find him and his over the top antics funny then I would delicately suggest that you do not see his movies as I understand they are not for everyone. To preempt any whining from people saying that "Other Adam Sandler films made me laugh but this one was not the same" let me remind you that the movie you just saw was called You Don't Mess with the Zohan NOT Happy Gilmore. If you walked into this theater expecting to see Happy Gilmore then again let me remind you that you can actually buy Happy Gilmore on DVD and also there is a rock at home for your face. NEWSFLASH! Movies do have differences from one another and thank heavens they do or the only Adam Sandler movie we would ever have is Happy Gilmore recycled over and over.

Finally and perhaps most important of all this movie was never intended to somehow explain or even explore the difficult and tense situation in the Middle East it was not even necessarily supposed to poke fun at it. This movie was supposed to make you laugh. If you laughed and had a good time then who cares? Everyone in the theater with me was laughing through the movie and having a good time. That is what I look for in a comedy so thumbs up Sandler for a fun night out.