You Don't Mess with the Zohan (2008) on Netflix
Zohan Dvir is an Israeli commando who would rather style hair than fight. He fakes his death to reach New York City, where Dalia, who owns a Palestinian salon, takes him on.
- Netflix3.0/5
- IMDb5.6/10229,841 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes37%
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Plot summary
Zohan Dvir is an Israeli commando known for his promiscuity and superhuman abilities. Tired of the Israeli-Arab conflict, he wants to leave the military and work as a hairstylist in the United States, to his parents' disapproval. Tasked with capturing his long-time rival, the Palestinian fighter known as Phantom, Zohan fakes his own death and smuggles himself to New York City in an airplane's cargo hold, later calling himself Scrappy Coco. He asks a Paul Mitchell salon for work and is turned down. A biker named Michael befriends him after a traffic collision. An Israeli immigrant, Oori, recognizes Zohan and keeps his secret, then brings him to a Lower Manhattan neighborhood of Middle Eastern immigrants. There Dalia, whose salon is struggling financially, lets him sweep the floors without pay.
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Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about You Don't Mess with the Zohan (2008)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Adam Sandler, Robert Smigel and Judd Apatow wrote the first draft of the script back in 2000, but the studio shelved the project after the September 11 attacks because everyone involved felt the subject matter had become too sensitive.
- Zohan's story is partly based on the real life of Nezi Arbib, an Israeli soldier who moved to southern California after his service and opened a hair salon; Sandler trained with Arbib and his brothers, also former soldiers, for two weeks to learn actual hairstyling.
- Several of the film's running jokes, including the lines 'Sony guts' and 'Disco, Disco, good, good', originated years earlier in SNL sketches written by Robert Smigel and starring Tom Hanks, the first of which also gave Adam Sandler one of his earliest uncredited television appearances.
