Masand's Verdict: You Don't Mess... is lewd

I still haven't exactly figured out whether I was more amused or embarrassed by Adam Sandler's new comedy You Don’t Mess With The Zohan, which checks into local multiplexes this week. I suppose it's best described as a shameless pleasure, one of those films that you don't want to admit you enjoyed.

Sandler stars as The Zohan, an Israeli counterterrorist, with remarkable physical skills. He can jump and leap across buildings effortlessly, and he has a high threshold for pain - which becomes clear when you see him drop a sharp-toothed fish into the front of his swimming trunks. The Zohan wants out from this life of guns and bombings; he secretly nurses the dream of becoming a hairdresser.

Faking his own death, he heads for America one fine day, where he adopts the name Scrappy Coco (from his canine co-passengers on the flight), and pretends to be an Australian-Tibetan with a very peculiar accent. On being turned out of every salon in Manhattan, he finally lands a job at a small Palestinian-run salon on a street split between Israelis and Arabs. Here he fast goes from a hair sweeper to the star stylist, after old ladies can't get enough of his flamboyant haircuts and the quick bump-and-grind he gives them in the store room right after.

The film's parallel track involves a Palestinian agent known as the Phantom (played by John Turturro), the Zohan's arch enemy, who shows up in New York when he learns that the Zohan might still be alive. There's a third subplot involving a dubious developer who wants to tear down that street of Arab and Israeli stores so he can put up a mall there. If you're smart, you'd have guessed that the film resolves its Arab-Israeli conflict by uniting the two in their opposition to the mall.

You Don’t Mess With The Zohan is one of those films you don't take your parents to. It's full of lewd humour that many people just won't enjoy. And you can't blame them either. Rubbing one's privates against an old woman who's getting her hair shampooed is not everybody's idea of comedy. But that's just the thing about this film - Sandler does anything and just about everything to get a laugh out of you, which includes catching a fish between his butt cheeks. If you think that's funny, this film was made for you.

For the sheer courage and the lack of any modesty, I'm going to go with two out of five for You Don’t Mess With The Zohan. To be honest, I found myself laughing many times during this film. And then I was immediately embarrassed. Give it a chance, you might be surprised by how twisted your sense of humour really is.

Rating: 2 / 5 (Average)

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