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Reviews
Here are the
show's weekly reviews of theatrical releases and DVD picks. The
films are listed alphabetically by title. Titles beginning with
numerical values (i.e. 16 Blocks) are listed in the Numbers
section. Foreign films are listed according to the American title
under which they were marketed.
Y
The Yes Men
You Don't Mess with the Zohan
The
Yes Men
Directed by: Dan Ollman, Sarah Price, Chris Smith
Premise: A documentary film about a
group of anti-globalization activists who impersonate representatives of the
World Trade Organization and go on speaking engagements around the world to
present the WTO in a non-flattering light.
What Works: The film is very funny in a
sort of thinking man’s Jackass
way. The activists have made the pranks about the politics, and this allows them
to avoid long bits of exposition or moralizing on the WTO’s policies. The film
builds with each prank, and each one is more outrageous than the last. The film
lets its audience share in the excitement and the potential danger for the
activists as we wonder with them how the presentations will be received and if
they will be caught.
What Doesn’t: This is not an objective
documentary and does not represent itself that way. For example, Fahrenheit
9/11 director Michael Moore gives the explanation of what the WTO does
and what the anti-globalization efforts are attempting to do. While the
filmmakers have no need to be objective, it would have strengthened their
arguments to give the WTO a chance to defend itself.
DVD extras: Commentary track and deleted
scenes.
Bottom Line: This is not a brilliant
film but it is highly entertaining and gives an inside look into the life and
work of a group of activists largely demonized by both Western governments and
the mainstream media. Fans of Michael Moore and other activist documentaries
will want to check this out.
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You
Don’t Mess with the Zohan
Directed by: Dennis Dugan
Premise: An Israeli super-spy gives up his
career in the army and travels to New York to become a hairdresser. He
finds work at a salon run by a Palestinian and tries to hide his
identity.
What Works: The film is mercifully short.
What Doesn’t: You Don’t Mess with
the Zohan is a horrific comedy and not in a good way. This film is
not funny at all. Every joke is lame and can be seen a mile out. Zohan
is one of Sandler’s most grotesque creations. Unlike Will Ferrell, who
is an expert in creating obnoxious idiots and making the audience love
them, Sandler’s approach to this character and others has been to just
keep pressing the annoyance buzzer over and over again until the
audience leaves the theater or goes along with the joke. That said,
he’s no Andy Kaufmann; there’s no irony here, just a
too-cool-for-school attitude intended to substitute for creativity.
What’s worse, the film makes a halfhearted attempt at commentary on
the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but whenever the film needs a laugh it
runs to ethnic humor in the same way that I
Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry ran to homophobic humor
while trying to take a stand for gay rights. Ethnic stereotypes and
idiosyncrasies can be funny if they are done with a sense of fun, irony,
and self-deprecation, but You Don’t Mess with the Zohan just
keeps running back to exploiting Middle Eastern jokes that aren’t
funny and are totally unoriginal.
Bottom Line: You Don’t Mess With the
Zohan is quite possibly Adam Sandler’s worst film, worse than I
Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, worse than The
Waterboy, and it’s likely to be remembered as one of the worst
films of 2008.
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