While I’m on the subject of writing about comedy today, and since there aren’t any new trailers to comment on, I figured I’d go back and take another look at You Don’t Mess with the Zohan trailer. When the preview first hit, I decided not to write about it, because I know how difficult it is to write about comedy and I just know that people are apt to disagree with me over Adam Sandler’s career.

As a youngster, I was a huge fan of Sandler and a constant defender of the merits of his comedy. But I think as I’ve grown older, I’ve lost the appreciation for that random and absurdist stuff — I think this somehow coincides with my waning enjoyment of Bunuel. For awhile, I thought it was Sandler who was growing up, doing movies for kids and families and making more efforts to do dramatic roles, but Zohan seems as immature as anything he’s ever done. The problem is, it also seems as simple and formulaic (in a 1980s comedy, there’s always a bad guy to make the third act less funny, Crocodile Dundee/Twins/etc., sort of way) as anything he’s ever done. Say what you will about Billy Madison or Happy Gilmore, but there is some well-crafted, anarchic comedy in there beneath the stupid surface storylines.

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