You Don't Mess With the Zohan-Sandler has way of making vegetables taste like dessert

* * * * (out of 5)

Drove over to Astoria, to the Kaufman Regal Cinemas because it has free parking on the roof. As I drove up for the 10AM show, the free parking-metered spots were all open so I parked across the street at 9:58. Something happened then that doesn't happen too often anymore. A great song, in fact my favorite song from this artist, was playing on the radio and I had to decide--should I turn the engine off and go inside, or wait to hear the end and miss some trailers? I turned it off, but it stung like removing a Band-Aid.

As it happens that singer is the surprise guest star of this latest Adam Sandler movie. Sandler always gets huge stars for his films, but this person was a shocker. And funny, too. There is a second great musician in the movie as well, who is even funnier, but not as big a star.

Adam Sandler's movies never catch me in the previews or commercials. I go strictly on reputation. He has never produced a commercial bomb and I have never been disappointed by any of his performances. In Zohan, he may have taken a bigger leap than ever. Finding the comedy in the Israeli/Palestinian troubles is a hard job, but to make it a live-action cartoon takes major balls. By comparison, I can't imagine a comedy about the IRA.

But Sandler has the clout and he has the right guys to help him take on the job. His co-writers: the new king of comedies Judd Apatow and Triumph the Insult Comic Dog's voice, Robert Smigel. His director is one of the most unsung and yet most successful directors in Hollywood, Dennis Dugan. And once again his cast makes another great lineup.

Sandler plays Zohan, a member of the elite Israeli agency, the Mossad, and a terrorist-killing machine. Capable of incredible feats, like swimming like a dolphin, or jumping from roof to street like an acrobat on steroids. His hackey-sack skills are no less impressive. (Watch for the catty-sack game he plays with a fellow Israeli.) But what he likes best is Disco-dancing. Disco is apparently huge in Israel and he does it any chance he gets. His allure turns on the sexy ladies on the Israeli beaches. But his fun is cut short when he must go back to fighting his arch nemesis, The Phantom, played with hysterical zeal by Sandler regular, John Turturro. He plays the phantom like a Palestinian Hugh Hefner, who also happens to be a killing machine.

Zohan wants to quit the Mossad business and become a hairdresser for his hero Paul Mitchell. So he stows away in the animal compartment on a flight to New York and makes friends fast. How? Well, Zohan has a huge package which is prominent in all the pants he wears and no woman can apparently be too old or too fat to turn him on. His attempts at sex with a really old Mrs. Garrett (from Facts of Life) are very funny.

The movie is immensely silly from the beginning, but didn't really grab me until Zohan reaches America. Once he starts cutting hair, the movie gets into gear and the laughing tears started running down my face. It doesn't happen often, but there were times when I was coughing and gagging from laughter. The scene with Sandler regular Henry Winkler drew applause. The cast is top notch--Lainie Kazan, Ido Mosseri, Rob Schneider, Michael Buffer (yes, the Rumble Guy in a Donald Trump type role), Ernie from My Three Sons, and Shelly Berman (the crazy judge from Boston Legal). I'm leaving out some other names, because they make a nice surprise.

Movies about the Middle East have been box office poison since 9/11, but like his movie about gay people last year, I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry (2007), Sandler has a way of introducing tough topics to a huge audience and making their vegetables taste like dessert. Sometimes laughter is the best way to learn.


The Freditor