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SYNOPSIS:
Comedy superstar Adam Sandler is back - and funnier than ever
- as The Zohan, the finest counterterrorist agent the Israeli
army has. That is, until he fakes his death and travels to
Manhattan to live his dream... as a hairdresser. Now this
skilled fighting machine who used to clip bad guys is out
to prove he can make the cut as a top stylist.
All
goes silky smooth until his cover is blown when he's recognized
by a Palestinian cab driver (Rob Schneider). Now, The Zohan
must fight to live a peaceful new life in New York in this
razor-sharp action-packed comedy from Adam Sandler, Robert
Smigel, Judd Apatow and Dennis Dugan.
MOVIE
REVIEW
Now we know the importance of the role played by
our friends at the censorship board – this reviewer
has a colleague with two kids aged 7 and 10. Thanks to the
worldwide web, they have seen the trailer of this Dennis Dugan
directed comedy, and they love it so much they can mimic and
chant Adam Sandler’s spastic sounding line: "I
want to cut… and style hair." But because there
is a NC16 sticker on the DVD cover, the colleague knew better
than to watch it with the kids around (they were out watching
High School Musical 3: Senior Year, a movie that’s much
more wholesome than this), and boy, was she glad the kids
didn’t watch this outrageously rude but funny flick.
Sandler
plays an Israeli soldier who pretends to be dead so he can
appear in New York City to become a hairstylist. Not only
does he provide service in the hair department, the suave
man with a, well, big package manages to romance his clients
by providing, well, extra services. Along the way, he falls
in love with a girl, his secret identity gets exposed, and
he may just lose his newfound career and life to the evil
men who are after him.
We
must admit that this is not too bad a plot, with some potential
of an overall feel good atmosphere, but with Sandler around,
you know better than to expect a wholesome movie. Furthermore,
joining him are other funnymen Chris Rock (Madagascar), Rob
Schneider (Big Stan), and wait, is it Mariah Carey we see
there? But no one is going to snatch the limelight from Sandler
and his, well, big package here, which contributes itself
to most of the rude jokes here.
We
love the scene where he chases his enemy across the seas,
we love the scene where he styles the two dogs’ hair
in the airplane cargo, we love the scene where he fakes an
accent to sound Australian and we love every scene he appears
in his glaringly distracting crotch-obvious outfit. You have
to see these scenes to realize why our friends at the censorship
board prefer kids to stay away and watch happy musicals involving
high school students instead.
But
when these jokes repeat themselves in this 113 minute picture,
you get the feeling that the filmmakers are trying a little
too hard to impress viewers with their not so clean sense
of humour. True, there are some, well, ups, during the first
half of the movie, but its unevenness shows when things get
a little dreary towards the end. There are only so many times
we can laugh at big crotch jokes, and to be frank, we didn’t
expect ourselves to care for Sandler’s character initially,
but as the jokes wear thin, we found him a tad irritating.
But
oh well, let’s not be scrooges in this day and time
– This is a good movie to laugh off, forget your troubles
and spend two hours with your brains decked somewhere. Just
make sure there aren’t under aged kids lurking around
when you play this.
SPECIAL FEATURES :
The Code 3 disc does provide a fair amount of special
features to complement the movie. Watch the movie and laugh,
listen to the commentaries and laugh, watch the featurettes
and laugh some more.
Commentary with Adam Sandler, Rober Smigel, Rob Schneider
& Nick Swardson – You know this one is
going to be funny with these people in the mix. They can make
fun of the girl who appears in the Columbia Tristar opening,
and ogling at pretty Israeli girls and giving some insightful
trivia about how director Dugan is holding the camera in one
shot and filming his own feet.
Commentary with Director Dennis Dugan –
In this second feature commentary, we get a little more serious
with the director telling you about the shooting locations
of the movie, for example, the opening beach scene is shot
at different places. He tells us in which scene he cameos
in as well.
Deleted Scenes – There are 15 deleted
scenes with a total runtime of 14 minutes removed from the
final cut of the movie. Watch out for a cross dressing enemy,
a funeral gathering and a showdown in an electronic store.
Featurettes – There are 10 behind the
scene featurettes with a total runtime of 27 minutes focusing
on Chris Rock’s taxi driver cameo, Mariah Carey’s
glittering appearance and you’ll also get to see how
green screen is utilized in many of the car chase scenes.
Ah, technology.
Also,
look out for Easter Eggs where you’ll
get to see the how a trick involving wigs is played on the
guy in charge of wigs (they call him Hair Department Head),
and experience the cast and crew dancing to a funky disco
music video.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
The
visual and audio transfers are good enough for you to see
Sandler’s distracting crotch piece, as well as the beautiful
beach and city settings. Language options include English
and Thai Digital Dolby 5.1.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD
RATING :
Review
by John Li
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