When I saw previews for You Don’t Mess With The Zohan, I remember two scenes that stuck out the most to me. The first, I liked. It was Adam Sandler’s (who played the main character Zohan) random dance that was interspersed throughout the trailer. It reminded me of John Travolta’s ‘Stayin Alive’ finger point dance from Saturday Night Fever. The difference was that Adam Sandler was doing the dancing so it was funny. The second thing I remembered was the Zohan kicking some yuppie guy in the face repeatedly and saying the phrase: ‘Smell it…smell it…smell it…now take it.” I hated that part and refused to see the movie in theaters because of it. As You Don’t Mess With The Zohan came on the Dish Network at the same time that I had the flu and was bored beyond reason, I decided to give Zohan another chance, cheesy lines aside.

The acting and storyline take a back seat to the sometimes arbitrary comedy which almost always delivered. They constantly poked fun at the Arab culture and, as a Syrian-American, I may have appreciated this more than others might.

Throughout the movie there were three recurring themes that I enjoyed the most:

The Disco: I loved the dance scenes that were peppered through the entire film. Whenever the Zohan had something to celebrate he would break out in a 70’s style disco dance. It didn’t matter where he was, on a helicopter, at a hacky sack tournament, or in the middle of the street, it just happened and every time it was priceless.

The Fights: The sheer ridiculousness of the fight scenes and the total indestructibility of the Zohan are comic gold. The audience doesn’t have to waste any time wondering if the Zohan will win his conflicts. It’s guaranteed. This allows the viewers to appreciate the gags that are saturated in all the battles/fights.

As I said before, the storyline and acting take a backseat to the jokes. Not that the acting was very bad, but no Oscar winners will be had by ‘Messing with the Zohan.’

Michael Buffer makes a sustained appearance as a rich and greedy landlord which I didn’t like. He didn’t necessarily do a bad job, it was just that I was so used to him bellowing ‘Let’s Get Ready to Rumble!’ at Boxing matches and UFC tournaments, that I had a difficult time watching him do anything else.

I could easily see some people thinking You Don’t Mess With The Zohan was corny or too unbelievable. This may be true, but as a comedy, a movie is supposed to bring laughs…I feel that You Don’t Mess With The Zohan did just that.