And the Award for Worst Accent Goes to…
This is one part amusing, two parts horrific. The first thing we learn in this trailer for You Don’t Mess With the Zohan is that Adam Sandler has gotten buff and doesn’t do an Israeli accent very well. That doesn’t stop him from playing Zohan, a Mossad agent who fakes his own death so that he can move to New York City and become a hairdresser. Until his past catches up with him… Sort of like Shampoo, www.youtube.com/watch?v=zymoFHGYBnQ&feature=related
“>Exodus and Munich rolled into one.
If the trailer is anything to go by, the film half mocks, half affirms American stereotypes of and fetishes for Israeli soldiers. Still, you know you’ll see it when it hits the theatres in June.
[...] zu werden, natürlich wird man dort auf ihn aufmerksam und so kommt es zu einigen Verwicklungen. Jewschool schreibt dazu: If the trailer is anything to go by, the film half mocks, half affirms American [...]
—Chajms Sicht » Zohan mit dem bösen Akzent · December 26th, 2007 at 1:16 pm
Is he supposed to be Israeli or Borat?
—Debby · December 26th, 2007 at 3:59 pm
Is that Rob Schneider as a Hezbollah sleeper? Brilliant!
I can’t help thinking that Sacha Baron Cohen would be better than Sandler at a role like this. At least he’d get the Israeli accent right.
Nevertheless, you’re probably right, the subject matter may be enough to get me over my aversion to paying money to see Adam Sandler movies.
—crammed · December 26th, 2007 at 4:25 pm
actually, I’d say he sounds like he’s doing a pretty good job with the accent.
—Davidg · December 26th, 2007 at 4:59 pm
He sounds more German than Israeli.
—Chorus of Apes · December 26th, 2007 at 6:33 pm
I never thought I’d say this in a million years, but if that’s really Adam Sandler… he looks pretty hot. *smacks head several times* Do I have to go powersand my soul now?
—Kol Ra'ash Gadol · December 26th, 2007 at 6:41 pm
Much higher resolution trailer here:
http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1809914565/trailer
—themicah · December 27th, 2007 at 8:45 am
smell it, smell it, smell it, now take it.
that’s for you.
since mtv’s remote control, i’ve been a sandler fan. not exactly loved all of his movies, but i can’t front, he’s hilarious to me. I’ll be there, flask of whiskey in my pocket.
—Ruby K · December 27th, 2007 at 10:16 am
Is Zohan even a Hebrew name?
The accent is not good but not bad. It’s certainly better than the supposed Israeli accent in Nip/Tuck last week. Love Schneider as the Hezbollah dude.
—DeisCane · December 27th, 2007 at 1:18 pm
I used to think that I had the worst Israeli accent ever but Sandler has proven me wrong.
—Jack · December 27th, 2007 at 1:22 pm
Wow, Ruby K goes to the movies with a flask? That’s hard core. I like it! By the way, I totally called this trend of Jewish empowerment thru having American Jews playing ass-kicking Israelis. I wouldn’t be surprised if Michael Steinhardt was a financial backer of Sandler’s movie. In fact, I proposed an all Jewish remake of Munich (well, with Palestinians playing Palestinians) as my Bronfman Brandeis proposal. Now you’ll excuse me while I find a non-Adam Sandler reason to drink whiskey in the middle of the day…
—rokhl · December 27th, 2007 at 2:44 pm
Ruby K, I seriously need to go to the movies with you.
—feygele · December 28th, 2007 at 5:00 am
Accents are one the most difficult thing to do if they should sound really authentic and not just weird. Even the accents in Spielberg’s ‘Munich’ weren’t that good either.
Some of the accents in ‘Hebrew Hammer’ were quite good, though.
—dave · December 28th, 2007 at 8:25 am
I am dying to hear the story behind this film. How did he pitch it, how long did it take to get greenlit, etc…someone call up Sony Pictures and do an interview!! (Too busy or I would go for it…)
—sarah · December 28th, 2007 at 2:34 pm
Can we stop worrying about the accent and focus instead on how awesome it is that a movie is being made that will have contemporary Israeli rock as the backbone of its soundtrack?
—matanarjuat · December 28th, 2007 at 10:44 pm
rokhl: there needs to be a reason? i’d even trade some whiskey for more on the blacklists. besides, when you have friends that want to see things like “The Mummy 2″ and “Van Helsing” in the theaters, well, seeing those “movies” requires reinforcements.
feygele: no kidding; bimheyra biyameinu.
sarah: agreed. how did this happen? is this where Sandler’s yiddishkeit went after three hanukkah songs and eight crazy nights?
—Ruby K · December 29th, 2007 at 2:13 am
Ruby K,
If you make it a party, *I’ll* bring the flasks. Just give me a head count! Someone else has to buy the popcorn though, too expensive.
—Kol Ra'ash Gadol · December 30th, 2007 at 12:58 am
I’ll totally splurge for the popcorn. if enough of us go together, we can get the extra large bucket with free refills and TOTALLY get our money’s worth.
—shamir · December 30th, 2007 at 1:17 pm
OK, we’re good. We just have to settle on which state this will happen in.
—Kol Ra'ash Gadol · December 30th, 2007 at 2:49 pm