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Sandler Has Matured, But Not By Much

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By CHRISTY LEMIRE

The Associated Press

Published: June 5, 2008

For all the concern that a comedy about conflict in the Middle East would offend everyone imaginable, "You Don't Mess With the Zohan" is really rather conventional and familiar.

At its core, it's just "Romeo and Juliet" wrapped in Adam Sandler's trademark raunchy humor.

Sandler co-produced, co-wrote the script and stars as the titular character, a famous Israeli commando who fakes his own death to escape to the United States and pursue his lifelong dream of becoming a hairdresser. He's a trained killer but all he wants to do is make people "silky smooth," one of many jokes that get repeated ad nauseam in Dennis Dugan's overlong movie.

Once he lands in New York, Zohan wows his older female customers with his sexual prowess (and the hairstyles he copies from his beloved 1987 Paul Mitchell book) but he also finds he's fallen for his boss, Dalia (Emmanuelle Chriqui), a sassy salon owner who happens to be Palestinian.

He also must elude a group of Arabs, led by cab driver Salim (old "SNL" buddy Rob Schneider), who want to report Zohan's existence to the revered Palestinian terrorist "The Phantom" (John Turturro), who thought he'd killed him.

Sandler collaborated on the screenplay with longtime friends and comedy titans Robert Smigel and Judd Apatow, so it features some smarter and more grown-up laughs than you would expect from a typical Happy Madison Production.

Mostly, though, it's just plain silly, which is probably what you're looking for when you show up at the multiplex for one of Sandler's summer comedies.

MOVIE REVIEW

You Don't Mess With the Zohan **

MOVIE BOARD RATING: PG-13 (crude and sexual content, profanity, nudity)

STARS: Adam Sandler, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Rob Schneider, John Turturro

DIRECTOR: Dennis Dugan

LOCATION: See movie times, Page 10, for local showtimes

PLOT SUMMARY: Israeli commando fakes his own death to start over as a New York hairdresser.

RUNNING TIME: 113 minutes

ON THE WEB: www.sonypictures.com/movies/youdontmesswiththezoha...

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