Tuesday
24Jun2008
'Zohan' Embraced by Israelis
Tuesday, June 24, 2008 at 6:24PM
Though American audiences haven't become as consumed by
You Don't Mess With the Zohan as they have
Adam Sandler movies in the past, it's
coming up big in a surprising location: Israel.
Despite Sandler's over-the-top portrayal as a former
Israeli Mossad agent who becomes a New York hairdresser, crowds have been been
packing houses since the movie opened there last Wednesday.
The frank sexual presence of the character, coupled with
bad clothes, disco interruptions, lots of jokes about the eternal war between Jews and Palestinians, and gags about the many uses of hummus have
not turned off the usually picky Israeli movie fans. In fact, it's just the
opposite. "I wasn't insulted at all. It was funny. Exaggerated, but funny," said
Guy Ben-Yaacov, 23. "Besides, I know a few guys like Zohan."
However, just as in this country, Zohan is facing some
critical scorn. Film critic Amir Kaminer, has his share of problems with the
movie while acknowledging that Zohan is the most prominent Isreali character out
of Hollywood since Paul Newman in Exodus.
Accurately portraying the film as "vulgar and stupid,"
Kaminer insisted, "We're not all about eating hummus, killing Arabs and
fornicating. We do other things as well."
That's true. They also disco!
Reader Comments (4)
I just saw The Wedding Singer on Spike the other night...Sandler's getting old!
(Then again, so am I!).
This movie was offensive and dumb...we took 3 young teen girls and we were sorry we paid to see it...(Zohan) I can't believe Sandler would lower himself so much to such a lousy movie as this!!!We didn't even stay till the end...we walked out about half way through the movie...
This movie was offensive and dumb...we took 3 young teen girls and we were sorry we paid to see it...(Zohan) I can't believe Sandler would lower himself so much to such a lousy movie as this!!!We didn't even stay till the end...we walked out about half way through the movie...
Adam Sandler is classic in his own way, though he tends to do his best work when he stays casual, not trying too hard to be funny or deep, etc.