(andPOP) - I seem to be hot and cold when it comes to Adam Sandler. On the one hand, he's one of a handful of actors who's usually reason enough for me to see a movie. On the other, I can see why many critics are annoyed by him (since I myself am often annoyed by him) - but in the right project I can easily embrace his conventions - the silliness, the goofy-but-sincere romances, the vomit gags, the barely repressed rage, the obligatory appearance by Rob Schneider (who appears in You Don't Mess With The Zohan as a Palestinian cab driver), the blatant product placement (the final battle is paused so two of the main characters can promote a cellphone!), and most of all the steadfast refusal to mature until the very end. When all is said and done, you know what you're settling with a Sandler movie, and no one else makes films quite like Adam Sandler.
That said, I can't help but feel disappointed by this one. Like Anger Management (which he made with Jack Nicholson), Punch Drunk Love (directed by Paul Thomas Anderson), and I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry (which was co-written by Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor), Sandler is once again working with someone whose mere presence should have resulted in a better movie (in this case, Judd Apatow). While Apatow's touch is evident in the boatload of gratuitous male nudity (much of it involving Sandler), the film is missing the insight and attention to character development synonymous with the best of his work. Love interest Emmanuelle Chriqui may be gorgeous, but she doesn't even leave an impact comparable to Kate Beckinsale in Click, let alone Katherine Heigl in Knocked Up and Catherine Keener in The 40-Year-Old Virgin.
Apatow's touch is also evident in the running gag about Sandler's character - a Mossad agent who fakes his death so he can become a stylist at a Palestinian hair salon in New York - romancing his customers, older women from their late 50s all the way up to their 70s. Also, while Sandler's never exactly shied away from his Jewish heritage, I wouldn't be surprised if Apatow was largely responsible for this sudden willingness to make a comedy about the ongoing conflict in Israel.
So what happened? My guess is that Apatow, a busy guy with a frat boy's sense of humour, can only spread himself so thin. The Apatow which cowrote You Don't Mess With The Zohan is presumably the same one who produced Talledega Nights and Anchorman - funny, but with zero attention paid to character development.
And that, really, is You Don't Mess With The Zohan's biggest problem - it isn't funny. The makers are sitting on a gold mine of material, but except for some decent comic-action setpieces (during which Sandler kicks his adversaries while staring them in the face and dismantles their guns before they can fire) and a pointed line about Israelis and Palestinians looking suspiciously similar (no surprise in this movie, since Israelis play most of the Palestinians) we're treated to the usual gay jokes, 80s hair and music references, and others reacting to the Sandler character's sexual prowess. Sandler haters can rest assured: if the man annoys you, you'll find nothing to change your mind here.
I've never seen a Sandler film I'd give more than three and a half stars to (though embarrassingly I haven't seen Punch Drunk Love or Reign Over Me), because four-star films in my opinion should be enjoyable for anyone and Sandler by definition is an acquired taste. On the relative scale of his movies, You Don't Mess With The Zohan is my least favourite Sandler film of the ones I've liked - better than Big Daddy, Click and Billy Madison (I refuse to see Eight Crazy Nights or Little Nicky), but below The Waterboy, Mr. Deeds, Anger Management and his films with Drew Barrymore. For Sandler fans, I'd recommend You Don't Mess With The Zohan as a rental. There are better things to see at the multiplex for $10.
