Zohan

It's either this, or the damn Panda movie. And there's no way I'm seeing the Panda flick.

 

I'd go with the Panda flick.

Sandler's either hit or miss, but I'll be illegally downloading this film just for the hell of it. Recently, I loved Click and Reign Over Me. Mr. Deeds may be the worst film ever made, 50 First Dates, Little Nicky, and Anger Management were terrible, and movies like The Longest Yard and Chuck and Larry just weren't funny enough.

But he did have a nice stretch in the late '90's. Billy Madison, Happy Gilmore, The Wedding Singer, The Waterboy, and Big Daddy all ranged from decent-to-really good.

 

"50 first dates" was NOT terrible.

quite surprised that "zohan" drew decidedly mixed reviews -- mostly not good -- but one of the raves was from the n.y. times. go figure.

 

For want of anything better to do, I went to an early showing of this before heading into work. Like Simon, expectations were extremely low, this being the first Sandler movie I've ever paid to see. While it may not sweep the Oscars next March, I didn't feel as if I'd wasted the $4.75 matinee price.

And Emmanuelle Chriqui is smokin.

 

Saw it this weekend...

Very surprisingly enjoyable...

I also had low expectations, but I laughed my ass off.

If you like Sandler's films, you'll like this one...

 

I've got some free time. Perhaps I'll take a trip down to the cinema and catch the dollar matinee.

 

good to know. thanks, mizzou. 8)

 

Wow, I'm surprised by the opinions so far.

I saw this on Saturday, and thought it was pretty awful. I laughed a few times, but it was a lot worse than Sandler's best movies.

 

I've hated some of his recent stuff...

This one, he kind of went back to being silly, sort of along the lines of his earlier stuff...

 

Can't stand Sandler.

But this was the best Sandler trailer I've ever seen.

Won't give him money, though.

 

It's actually better than most Sandler films. Still hates women, mind you, and still has an asshole New Yorker's appraisal of the world, but it's still better than most of his work. I'd call most of his work "rage escapism;" that is, angry men can go and project all their worries and anger onto the given Sandler character who busts through the various barriers in society with violence, cursing or some other anti-social behavior and still manages to bust some All-American girl's bad boy cherry in the process. The high-water mark of these offerings was, to me, Anger Management, in which the Sandler character is <i>falsely accused</i> of rage, then taken advantage of by a psychopathic counselor, until he <i>finds</i> rage.

The only Sandler movie I can recommend (other than Airheads, which barely counts) is Punch-Drunk Love, in which the Sandler formula is dragged out into the light and exposed for what it is. Most of his fans hated it, and for good reason: P.T. Anderson analyzed the guy's work, built a story to explain the childlike sociopathy buried in Sandler's movies, and then played it relatively straight. The result was funny and unsettling, especially for his fans, who generally go to his movie to indulge in casual rage and misogyny. Imagine what they must have felt when those seven sisters laid into him. I have no idea why Sandler agreed to make it, other than he must have liked Boogie Nights, or something.

 

see: the "reign over me" thread nearby.