You Don't Mess with the Zohan | |
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Theatrical release poster
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Directed by | Dennis Dugan |
Produced by | |
Written by |
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Starring |
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Music by | Rupert Gregson-Williams |
Cinematography | Michael Barrett |
Edited by | Tom Costain |
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Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
Release date
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Running time
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112 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $90 million |
Box office | $201.1 million |
You Don't Mess with the Zohan is a 2008 American political satire comedy film directed by Dennis Dugan and produced by Adam Sandler, who also starred in the film. It was the fourth film that included a collaboration of Sandler as actor and Dugan as director. The film revolves around Zohan Dvir (Hebrew: זוהן דביר), an Israeli counterterrorist army commando who fakes his own death in order to pursue his dream of becoming a hairstylist in New York City. The story was written by Adam Sandler, Judd Apatow, and Robert Smigel. It was released on June 6, 2008 in the US and on August 15, 2008 in the UK. Despite generally mediocre reviews, the film was a moderate box office success, with a worldwide gross of $201 million from a $90 million budget.
Zohan Dvir (Adam Sandler) is a superhuman Israeli counterterrorist and the finest and most respected soldier in the Israel Defense Forces. However, Zohan has become both disgusted and disenchanted by the constant fighting, secretly dreaming of moving to the USA and becoming a hairdresser. This reaches a breaking point when a barbecue he hosts is interrupted by the IDF sending Zohan on a mission to stop a Palestinian terrorist group being led by his personal arch-enemy, Fatoush "Phantom" Hakbarah (John Turturro), another superhuman. Despite being upset over his ruined party, Zohan sees it as his long-awaited chance to desert the IDF and move to America. During the pursuit he fakes his own death and smuggles himself onto a plane to New York City, cuts his hair, and adopts the alias "Scrappy Coco" (the names of two dogs he shared the flight's baggage hold with) while claiming that he is "Half Australian, Half Mount Everest." Meanwhile, the Phantom becomes rich and famous for supposedly killing Zohan and starts his own fast-food business, "Phantom's Muchentuchen".