Incorrect comedy

With You Don't Mess with the Zohan Sandler and his director Dennis Dugan use a sledgehammer approach.

You Don't Mess with the Zohan (M) 1 star National release With You Don't Mess with the Zohan Sandler and his director Dennis Dugan use a sledgehammer approach.

Sandler plays the title character, an Israeli soldier so adept at killing Arab terrorists that he attacks their bases singlehanded (these scenes are supposed to be hilarious). Fed up with all the fighting, Zohan fakes his own death at the hands of a Palestinian strongman (John Turturro, really slumming it) and moves to New York. There, he wants to become a hairdresser but spends most of his time having sex with grateful old women. He also falls in love with a beautiful Palestinian woman (Emmanuelle Chriqui), who runs the salon where he works.

This is a comedy that so revels in its political incorrectness that when rival Arab and Jewish shopkeepers get together, all they can talk about is having sex with American political figures or their wives (or daughters). The chief villain, a mercenary who hates Arabs and Jews (and blacks, and just about everybody else) is portrayed as a Mel Gibson fan whose favourite movies include Lethal Weapon and What Women Want.

Occasionally the film is so bad it's almost funny, if you think a scene in which a cat is used as a football is funny. When in doubt the filmmakers resort to the crudest jokes, ensuring a little of the Zohan goes a very long way.