...He'll blow you away.An action comedy featuring Adam Sandler as an Israeli super soldier, and John Turturro as his arch-nemesis, The Phantom. (No, notthat one.)The plot goes something like this: Zohan Dvir is an Israeli super soldier, sort of a cross between Chuck Norris and Borat, who becomes tired of the Arab Israeli Conflict. He fakes his own death, and moves to the United States, where he fulfills his life-long dream of becoming a (heterosexual) hairdresser.
Badass Israeli: A constantRunning Gag - an Israeli, long released from the army and running a falafel shop in America, is certainly going to keep grenades, rocket launchers and other heavy weaponry stashed somewhere, just in case. Also, a Mossad agent can clearly leap from to roof and do cool things with his ligaments. Just look at the poster.
Bilingual Bonus: Averted, subverted and played straight in the same film. Lots of the stuff said in the film is gibberish (no, there is no such thing as muchentuchen or fizzy bubbelach, and the occasional word uttered in surprised with lots of khkhkh sounds is made up; as a matter of fact, ‘Zohan’ is not even a real Israeli name), Sandler uses few Hebrew words with Yiddish pronunciation, and Ido Mosseri as Oori calls the Walbridge employee a homo in legitimate Hebrew. But the most notable example of this trope (subversion or playing straight, YMMV) is when the Phantom calls Zohan a bastard in Hebrew, which is somewhat of a Crowning Moment of Funny for Israeli viewes.
Also, ‘puntakhat’, while it’s not an actual Hebrew word, slang or not, sounds like a corruption of ‘pot’ (vagina) and ‘takhat’ (arse).
The Cameo: John McEnroe (in his second Sandler movie), Henry Winkler (in histhird), and Mariah Carey (in a better movie than her usual). So too did George Takei, and Bruce Vilanch.
Camp Straight: Several characters (including his own parents at one point) mistake him for being gay.
Clown Car Base: In the climax, there is an instance of mooks getting out of a car...waaay more than the car should fit.
Eats Babies: In a parody of the iconic RockyTraining Montage, Phantom wakes up early, cracks some eggs into a glass, and drinks the live chicks inside. He also punches a heavy bag, then a side of beef, then a live cow.
Fauxreigner: Zohan and Phantom take out a mob of Southern rednecks disguised as stereotypical Arab terrorists and Hasidic Jews (so that the Israelis and Palestinians would each think the other ethnic group was vandalizing their shops).
Later shown that most of the bulge is being made up by his pubic hair in two separate scenes.
Gargle Blaster: Fizzy Bubbelech, apparently. Gail's son took one sip and found himself vomiting profusely, but the Arab and Israeli characters drink it casually and Zohan can down a bottle in less than a second.
It's Not You, It's Me: This is what Zohan tries to tell Raffaela, and what she in turn tries to tell him, in response to the unfortunate ethnically charged cock-blocking. However, it turns out that the xenophobia goes deeper than expected: Raffaela comes from a terrorist family, and The Phantom is her brother.
Living Legend: The Zohan is beloved by the Israeli people and both hated and feared by the Palestinian people. Fatoush Hakbarah is his Palestinian reflection.
Make Me Wanna Shout: Zohan and Phantom are both able to make a sound that although harmless on their own, when combined they create a legendary sonic attack that can destroy glass, blow electric connections, and pop breast implants like balloons.
Our Founder: The Rocky montage ends with the Phantom running up a slope instead of steps, reaching a statue of himself.
Politically Incorrect Villains: The white supremacist/survivalist types recruited by Walbridge to terrorize the residents on the block where he wants to build his shopping mall - and, when that doesn't work, to vandalize everyone's shops and make it appear as if the two immigrant groups were targeting each other.
Real Men Wear Pink: Zohan and the Phantom are the coolest men alive. They both love Mariah Carey and dream of being a hairdresser and shoe salesman respectively.
Rule Of Cool: It's pretty much directly stated that Zohan and Phantom can give uppercuts with their feet, control severed body parts, and walk on ceilings because once you become cool enough you can just do that kind of thing.
Zohan can even uppercut with one foot while Phantom takes his shoe size. and thus has his other leg raised in the air. That's right, Zohan can stand when both his feet are in the air.
Rule of Funny: The only way to describe the very impossible stunts in this movie such as Zohan tying a guy's limbs to make him look like a pretzel or being able stand with both feet in the air while kicking ass and getting his shoe size.
Running Gag: Using hummus for everything, up to and including toothpaste and putting out fires.
Serious Business: Even the lowly job of sweeping the hair clippings is this to Zohan.
Small Reference Pools: Surprisingly, the supposedly sophisticated Walbridge doesn't know what hummus is - this despite the fact that hummus is available in most large American cities, and not just in Semitic communities.
Space Whale Aesop: The conclusion for the movie paints the picture that the ultimate solution to the Arab Israeli Conflictis for everybody in the region to move to America.
Title Drop: The title is said by Zohan's friend after Zohan beats several strong men and a bull in tug of war singlehanded. In fact, it's actually the very first line in the movie.
Trademark Favorite Food: Zohan loves hummus. He puts it on everything he eats and even brushes his teeth with it. Also, Fizzy Bubbelech, of which he can down an entire bottle in less than a second.
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