You Don't Mess With the Zohan

Adam Sandler goes deep into character as an Israeli commando turned New York hairdresser in "You Don't Mess With the Zohan." Fitter-looking and less whiny than he's been on screen before, he's actually playing someone other than Adam Sandler.

If only the movie had followed suit. Though, as a broad comedy concerned with Israeli-Palestinian relations, "Zohan" in some ways distinguishes itself as original, it ultimately plays as just another silly Sandler comedy.

The Zohan, a bearded, cutoffs-clad counterterrorism agent who can fend off a dozen bad guys at a time, is – in parlance befitting his retro look – one bad dude. Directed with surprising panache by broad-comedy veteran Dennis Dugan, scenes of Zohan running across rooftops and jumping through windows play as goofy counterparts to similar moments in "Casino Royale" and "The Bourne Ultimatum
(Full review)