No one would ever claim Adam Sandler to be an elder statesmen of understanding and tolerance, but hidden behind the cooky, character-driven marketing strategy Columbia is using for You Don’t Mess With The Zohan is some surprisingly strong satire.

From a New York Times article on the film:

To the extent that “Zohan” deals with the intractable cycle of violence in the Middle East, it is careful not to take sides, and mocks itself for making such perilous source material a subject for comedy. In the midst of elaborate fight sequences, its characters debate the region’s complex history of aggression and retribution, even as they continue to act it out. (“I’m just saying, it’s not so cut and dried!” an assailant shouts as he falls off a balcony.)

The movie does not dare to suggest solutions to these conflicts, or to offer false hope that they will soon be resolved: in one scene, three Arab New Yorkers attempting to take down Zohan call the “Hezbollah Phone Line” for instructions on how to make a bomb. In a recorded message, they are told the information is not currently available during peace talks with Israel, and are instructed to call back “as soon as negotiations break down.”

The article discusses how filmmakers wanted real Arabs and Israelis to play the parts in the film.  Casting on the Israeli side was a piece of cake, but Arabs were reluctant to be in a movie  starring Sandler, who is Jewish and has donated to Jewish charities.

One of the main Arab roles in the film is played by an Egyptian who was skeptical at first but was eventually convinced to take the part by his daughter.  As expected, tempers flared and debates were had on set, but a cross-cultural, impromptu trip to Vegas also went down.

Just as a few stereotypes may have been broken as cast members interacted with each other, the movie may actually serve to do the same thing on a wider scale.

[Sayed] Badreya, who was recently seen playing an Afghan terrorist in “Iron Man,” said that by offering Arab or Muslim characters that are in any way divergent from the usual Hollywood stereotypes, “Zohan” is a step in the right direction.

“The movie presents what happened to me,” said Mr. Badreya, who grew up in Port Said, Egypt, during the 1967 and 1973 wars and emigrated to the United States in 1979. “Since it happened to me, it will work for someone like me.”

Mr. Badreya said that the comedy in “Zohan” was not quite evenly divided between ridiculing Arabs and ridiculing Jews. “The jokes are not 50-50,” he said. “It’s 70-30. Which is great. We haven’t had 30 for a long time. We’ve been getting zero. So it’s good.”

Bravo, Opera Man.  Bravo.