# NY Times raves over new Adam Sandler vehicle (". . . Zohan") **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 6, 2008, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-times-raves-over-new-adam-sandler-vehicle-zohan/451964 "2008-06-06T02:15:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2008, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-times-raves-over-new-adam-sandler-vehicle-zohan/451964/21 "2008-06-07T03:00:07Z")
Our local (flaming queer) movie critic interrupted a _Kung Fu Panda_ review he was doing to say how crappy it was. And he wants to know if Adam has something to tell us? I mean, first a movie where he marries another guy but he isn’t gay, now he’s a hairdresser in daisy dukes who worships Paul Mitchell but he isn’t gay? Adam, do you need to share? 😉 I have never seen an Adam Sandler movie, and I don’t see myself starting any time soon. Love those stupid Hannukah songs, though… ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2008, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-times-raves-over-new-adam-sandler-vehicle-zohan/451964/22 "2008-06-07T03:05:26Z")
[QUOTE=PharmBoy] It can’t be good: I won’t allow it. Adam Sandler is the most talentless person on the face of the Earth… [/QUOTE] **Punch Drunk Love** is pretty good (but isn’t really a comedy.) ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2008, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-times-raves-over-new-adam-sandler-vehicle-zohan/451964/23 "2008-06-07T03:12:44Z")
I’ve never been into Adam Sandler comedies, but I’ve liked him a lot in dramas. He was brilliant in **Punch-Drunk Love**. It was my favorite movie of its year, though I always considered it a _Paul Thomas Anderson film_ starring Adam Sandler, not an Adam Sandler movie directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. And while not great movies, I thought he was quite decent in **Spanglish** and **Reign Over Me**. All that said, the Zohan trailer makes me laugh in spite of myself, I don’t know why, and damn, I’ll probably go see it at some point. But then, I love Judd Apatow and will support anything he breathes on. And, off-topic, but I thought **Munich** was an excellent movie. ETA: Ooops, Sage Rat beat me to it. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2008, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-times-raves-over-new-adam-sandler-vehicle-zohan/451964/24 "2008-06-07T03:16:18Z")
[QUOTE=PharmBoy] It can’t be good: I won’t allow it. Adam Sandler is the most talentless person on the face of the Earth… [/QUOTE] You do know Pauly Shore is still alive? ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2008, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-times-raves-over-new-adam-sandler-vehicle-zohan/451964/25 "2008-06-07T18:12:36Z")
[Adam Sandler Lampoons Mel Gibson In "Zohan" | HuffPost Entertainment](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/06/05/adam-sandler-lampoons-mel_n_105373.html) This story says it is a lampoon of Mel Gibson . He is a point of some of the scenes. That is a good reason to see it. ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2008, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-times-raves-over-new-adam-sandler-vehicle-zohan/451964/26 "2008-06-07T18:19:19Z")
[QUOTE=Trunk] Yeah, yeah. No one’s fucking funny around here. Ferrell’s not funny. Sandler’s not funny. Martin Lawrence isn’t funny. Cedric isn’t funny. Kevin James isn’t funny. Dane Cook isn’t funny. Oh, yeah, Hugh Laurie was funny on **Blackadder**. How could I have forgotten? Sandler’s Opera Man? That trick-or-treat thing he used to do? When he first bust-out with that thanksgiving song? No one’s ever laughed at him. Do people think the channukah song gets played 8 million times per year because it’s not funny? He gets props for **Wedding Singer** commonly, but before his thing started to get a little tired (with Waterboy, Big Daddy, and a couple more), nearly everyone thought Happy Gilmore and Billy Madison were pretty funny. Give them a couple more movies, and Seth Rogan and Steve Carrell not only won’t be funny anymore. Their current level of funniness will have never existed in some people’s minds. [/QUOTE] Well fucking said. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Sensitive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/58956e/32.png) [@Darth\_Sensitive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Sensitive)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2008, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-times-raves-over-new-adam-sandler-vehicle-zohan/451964/27 "2008-06-07T18:24:29Z")
**Click** was good too. I’m interested in this one, and I’m not a big fan by any stretch. The trailer just makes me laugh. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2008, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-times-raves-over-new-adam-sandler-vehicle-zohan/451964/28 "2008-06-07T18:44:45Z")
[QUOTE=silenus] My expectations don’t go that low. [/QUOTE] I am so stealing this. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2008, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-times-raves-over-new-adam-sandler-vehicle-zohan/451964/29 "2008-06-11T04:01:22Z")
So am I the only Doper who’s seen this since it came out? I have a lot of time to kill this week, so I decided to catch a matinee showing. I was _dying_. It’s an Adam Sandler movie through and through, so there’s lots of juvenility, but it’s funny as hell. Having Apatow and Smigel in on the script really made a difference. Even Rob Schneider didn’t suck. The only caveat, which threw me off-guard in the first 15 minutes before I got with the program, is the over-the-topness. The feet uppercut in the trailer is only a small taste of the cartoonishness of the movie. The opening scene shows Zohan casually beating three muscle jockeys in a tug of war. If you go in expecting something relatively realistic, you’re gonna be disappointed; it’s basically like Speed Racer, only the non-realism isn’t nearly as constant and intense. The plot revolves around the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, and amazingly enough it’s handled pretty neutrally. Zohan’s an Israeli, so he’s obviously biased, but the movie itself presents both sides in equal light. I can’t say it’ll heal any wounds, but it gave me another perspective on the conflict, I’ll certainly say that much. Bottom line, though; if you can handle seeing Sandler’s bare ass and laugh at gigantic package jokes, it’ll be hilarious, go see it. If you can’t, well, you probably knew you wouldn’t like it when you heard it’s a Sandler movie anyway. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2008, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-times-raves-over-new-adam-sandler-vehicle-zohan/451964/30 "2008-06-11T05:54:52Z")
I read the reviews at Metacritic, and they’re very strange. This is a really polarizing movie. The score for the movie is only 54, which usually means it’s pretty bad. But then you start reading the reviews, and the first ones happen to be from all the major critics - Ebert, David Edelstein, Richard Shickel, and all love it. Scores in the 80’s. Extremely high for this kind of movie. Then you scroll down a little farther, and suddenly the reviews are in the 20’s. Reviewers who absolutely despised it. Not having seen it, I can’t help but wonder why it could be so polarizing. Is it the political angle? Some people aren’t ready to make light of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? Or is it the slapstick? Some of the reviews aren’t available, and the couple of bad ones I read didn’t really shed much light on it. But it’s fairly peculiar. ---
**Author:** ![sugar\_and\_spice](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e8c25b/32.png) [@sugar\_and\_spice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sugar_and_spice)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2008, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-times-raves-over-new-adam-sandler-vehicle-zohan/451964/31 "2008-06-11T06:24:59Z")
_wrong account_ ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2008, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-times-raves-over-new-adam-sandler-vehicle-zohan/451964/32 "2008-06-11T06:26:32Z")
Just keep in mind, A.O. Scott also positively reviewed “Freddy Got Fingered.” (A review I actually agree with, but which is wildly unpopular, scoring a 13 on Metacritic, and 10% on Rotten Tomatoes.) ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2008, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-times-raves-over-new-adam-sandler-vehicle-zohan/451964/33 "2008-06-11T07:12:26Z")
I use to never like Adam Sandler and I’m not even sure why. He’s certainly had some films I’ve liked ( **Airheads** , **The Wedding Singer** , **The Longest Yard** and **Chuck & Larry** ), but overall, I gave his stuff a pass. Then I saw the commercial for this and for the first time ever, I thought he was pretty freakin’ hot. I know. Sometime shortly after that, I regrettably watched the most recent MTV movie awards and they did a tribute to him. He sang something similar to “Simply the Best” (although I’m not sure it’s that) and made me laugh my ass off. Plus rethink my position. So… Now I want to go back and catch things like **Little Nicky** and **Billy Madison**. And rent this too, when it hits DVD. I think I’m glad my opinion changed. He seems to be a pretty decent actor after all, not to mention the fact that he’s always been rumored to be a great guy. Sounds win-win to me. If only I’ll find this as hilarious as **Bosstone** did, life will be complete. 😉😛 ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2008, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-times-raves-over-new-adam-sandler-vehicle-zohan/451964/34 "2008-06-11T08:04:05Z")
they went the easy route by making the commando-turned-foppish-hairdresser an Israeli. i think it would have been funnier if they made him a member of the Taliban or Iran’s secret police or something, but oh yeah then they would have had hundreds of death threats. So they went with the Israeli. The easy way. lame. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2008, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-times-raves-over-new-adam-sandler-vehicle-zohan/451964/35 "2008-06-11T12:27:12Z")
[QUOTE=faithfool] If only I’ll find this as hilarious as **Bosstone** did, life will be complete. 😉😛 [/QUOTE] It’s not a howler of a movie by any stretch, but I giggled like a maniac the entire way through. There’s always _something_ goofy on screen. ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2008, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-times-raves-over-new-adam-sandler-vehicle-zohan/451964/36 "2008-06-11T12:49:47Z")
[QUOTE=Trunk] No one’s fucking funny around here. Ferrell’s not funny. Sandler’s not funny. Martin Lawrence isn’t funny. Cedric isn’t funny. Kevin James isn’t funny. Dane Cook isn’t funny. Oh, yeah, Hugh Laurie was funny on **Blackadder**. How could I have forgotten? Sandler’s Opera Man? That trick-or-treat thing he used to do? When he first bust-out with that thanksgiving song? No one’s ever laughed at him. \<\\> [/QUOTE] Gimme a break, friend. You’re the one who said, “Sandler has made us all laugh before…” If people want to point out that Sandler has NEVER made them laugh, who are you to disagree with them? Look, I’m sorry if a good number of people here don’t share your sense of humor. What do you want us to do, though… Repent of our ways and revel in the comedic master that is Adam Sandler? ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2008, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-times-raves-over-new-adam-sandler-vehicle-zohan/451964/37 "2008-06-11T13:25:32Z")
[QUOTE=Trunk] Sandler has made us all laugh before, and he will make us laugh again. [/QUOTE] Nope and maybe. > [@](#): > > It looks WAY funnier than that Mike Myers movie. Having my wisdom teeth pulled looks WAY funnier than that Mike Myers movie. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2008, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-times-raves-over-new-adam-sandler-vehicle-zohan/451964/38 "2008-06-11T13:28:49Z")
[QUOTE=TV time] Having my wisdom teeth pulled looks WAY funnier than that Mike Myers movie. [/QUOTE] I own Cat in the Hat on DVD and still watch it from time to time, as much of a stinker as it is, and I still plan to pass on this. It’s obvious Myers and the movie premise just don’t click together. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2008, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-times-raves-over-new-adam-sandler-vehicle-zohan/451964/39 "2008-06-11T14:56:48Z")
[QUOTE=Sage Rat] **Punch Drunk Love** is pretty good (but isn’t really a comedy.) [/QUOTE] I don’t much like Sandler myself, but he was _perfect_ in that movie. It was a very different role for him, but it suited him to a tee. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2008, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-times-raves-over-new-adam-sandler-vehicle-zohan/451964/40 "2008-06-11T15:03:04Z")
[QUOTE=pulykamell] I don’t much like Sandler myself, but he was _perfect_ in that movie. It was a very different role for him, but it suited him to a tee. [/QUOTE] My impression of Punch Drunk Love was that it was a fascinating look at what would happen if you took a character from an Adam Sandler Movie and put him in the real world, or at least a world that wasn’t the Adam Sandlerverse. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-times-raves-over-new-adam-sandler-vehicle-zohan/451964.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-times-raves-over-new-adam-sandler-vehicle-zohan/451964.md?page=3)