You Don't Mess with the Zohan

An Israeli counterterrorism soldier with a secretly fabulous ambition to become a Manhattan hairstylist. Zohan's desire runs so deep that he'll do anything -- including faking his own death and going head-to-head with an Arab cab driver -- to make his dreams come true.

Critics were sharply divided on Sandler's Israeli-superspy-turned-hairdresser comedy: detractors found the premise too thin to sustain a feature and the humor too juvenile even by Sandler standards, while a surprising number of reviewers were won over by the film's anarchic energy and genuine comic ambition around its Middle East satire. The split is roughly between those who think the good stretches justify the slog and those who don't.