Word: sandler
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When the very first trailers hit the Web for You Don't Mess with the Zohan, the latest Adam Sandler comedy readying for its North American release this Friday, more than a few movie buffs caught the whiff of something familiar. There were some who saw in Sandler's shaggy new look and scattered speech patterns, similarities to Borat, the fictional Kazakhstani television celebrity played by Sacha Baron Cohen in the hit 2006 comedy. Others saw the wording of the title - and the casting of John Turturro as Sandler's arch-nemesis - and were reminded...
...rewarded and I must say the result is a laff riot. Well, all right, a laff scuffle - a picture that isn't quite as funny as it might be, but is as funny as it needs to be. Agreeably directed by Dennis Dugan, conceived by its star, Adam Sandler, and one-third written by him (his co-conspirators are Robert Smigel and Judd Apatow), the picture bears many of the latter's trademark moves. That is to say it is simultaneously a little bit vulgar and a little bit sentimental and comes out as a virtually bullet-proof blend...
...Israeli conflict? This movie seems to think so, though genial humanism may strike you as a pretty slender hope for so titanic an issue. And it's a big narrative lurch, too, which maybe we shouldn't dwell upon. Much better to focus on the purely comedic, beginning with Sandler's performance. It offers hilarious satire on James Bondian heroics. And Zohan's manic desire to provide "silky smooth" hair dressing represents good comic value, too. There's always been a sweet disconnectedness to Sandler's screen character, and when it is married to his contrasting, obsessive quest...
...yapping, rabid pug. Let 'em bite or kick at 'em - you're damned no matter what you do. The tragic thing is that all of this misery has almost nothing to do with being the leader of this country and a model for the free world. Toni Sandler, RENO...
...harried production executive muses. They got Owen Wilson top-lining. The producer is Judd Apatow, who these days can do no wrong in Hollywood (Knocked Up, Superbad, et al). The director, Steven Brill, and the writers, Kristofor Brown and Seth Rogen, are all School of Apatow-Sandler-Ferrell. That is to say they know their way around the sweetly raunchy manner beloved of adolescent American males...