The Commentator: Is Adam Sandler Our Greatest Jewish Mind?
Film
By Daniel Treiman
Is Adam Sandler the most important living Jewish commentator? Believe it or not, this actually isn’t the first time those words have appeared in print. In fact, the question was posed way back in 1999, on the cover of the national Jewish student magazine New Voices.
At the time, I must confess, I thought it was an absurd question. After all, Sandler’s brand of humor isn’t particularly Jewish, owing more to the bathroom than it does to the Borscht Belt. What can a guy who made his name singing faux-operatic ditties on “Saturday Night Live” and punching out “Price Is Right” host Bob Barker in “Happy Gilmore” teach us about the Jewish condition? Not much, I thought.
Then I watched “50 First Dates.”
Yes, that “50 First Dates” — the 2004 slapstick comedy in which Sandler woos an amnesiac Drew Barrymore. True, in contrast to other films that tackle the perennially funny subject of Jewish men pursuing the affections of non-Jewish women (think Woody Allen in “Annie Hall,” or Billy Crystal in “When Harry Met Sally”), there’s nothing recognizably Jewish about the protagonist of “50 First Dates.” Sandler’s character lives in Hawaii, of all places, and works as a marine veterinarian, of all things. Aside from his name, Henry Roth, there’s not so much as a hint that the character is Jewish — until, that is, the movie’s ending, when (spoiler alert!), completely out of the blue, Sandler is standing under a chupah, sporting a yarmulke and a tallis.
The sudden appearance of a traditional Jewish wedding canopy and ritual garb is treated with utter nonchalance. Now, some might find this jarring, but I would counter that it brilliantly reflects the zeitgeist. To be an American Jew today is to be, like Sandler, a part of the mainstream, not apart from it. In our daily lives, most of us are not so different from our non-Jewish neighbors. (Unlike in “Annie Hall,” none of Sandler’s 50 dates involved taking Barrymore to see “The Sorrow and the Pity.”) At the same time, we’re not abashed when it comes to expressing our Jewishness. Getting hitched under a chupah is no longer so exotic. That’s why, I would humbly argue, “50 First Dates” may very well be the single most accurate cinematic depiction of contemporary American Jewish identity.
Nor is Sandler’s contribution to Jewish culture limited to the silver screen. He’s also responsible for the single most important Jewish song of the past quarter-century. Seriously, is there a Jewish song in the post-“Fiddler on the Roof”/“Jerusalem of Gold” era that is as widely beloved by Jews and non-Jews alike as Sandler’s “Hanukkah Song”? The song also represents a revolution in Jewish self-assertion. As critic J. Hoberman has noted, “Sandler’s open cultural narcissism — identifying a ‘list of people who are Jewish just like you and me’ on national TV without fear that this might be a problem — dispensed with the underlying subject of American Jewish comedy. Say it loud. No more anxious self-deprecation. Just the slightest bit of irony!”
For these reasons, I had high hopes for Sandler’s latest film, “You Don’t Mess With the Zohan,” in which he plays a cracker-than-crack Israeli commando who leaves his conflict-ridden homeland to pursue his dream of being a hairstylist in New York City.
Let’s just say I wasn’t disappointed.
“You Don’t Mess With the Zohan” is a stupid movie; I couldn’t stop laughing. And if you look beyond the gross-out humor about intergenerational intercourse and gratuitous animal cruelty gags that dominate much of the film, “You Don’t Mess With the Zohan” also happens to be a pretty spot-on send-up of Israeli cuisine and culture, manners and mores.
The movie conveys the national obsession with hummus (which the Zohan uses as a hair-care product, toothpaste and fire-retardant), the wild popularity of cheesy dance music (a disco beat is all it takes to get the crowd at an Israel vs. Lebanon Hacky Sack tournament grooving together), the sabra directness that can occasionally veer into crudeness (much of the Zohan’s well-intentioned salon banter shouldn’t be repeated in a family newspaper) and the pushy salesmanship of Israeli electronics merchants (a clerk at a store named “Going Out of Business” insists that there’s nothing wrong with an obviously broken piece of audio equipment, suggesting instead that something might be wrong with the customer’s ear).
No mainstream American film has ever delved so deeply (or so shallowly, as the case may be) into such everyday attributes of modern-day Israeli-ness. (For those worrying that Sandler is tarnishing Israel’s image abroad, fear not: The film’s Arab characters don’t come off any better. So it’s a tie.)
Because its protagonist is a war-weary Israeli operative who finds a multicultural refuge in New York City, “You Don’t Mess With the Zohan” has drawn comparisons to Steven Spielberg’s Oscar-nominated drama “Munich.” The New York Times calls Sandler’s Zohan “basically a less anguished version of the character played by Eric Bana in ‘Munich.’” It’s not, however, an apt analogy. For starters, Bana’s character couldn’t catch a speeding bullet with his nostril or immobilize foes by tying them into pretzel shapes, let alone make elderly women’s hair look “silky smooth.”
More broadly, Spielberg’s “Munich” had remarkably little to do with Israel as it actually is. The film grafted a cautionary post-9/11 warning about the dangers of retaliation onto a storyline inspired by the Mossad counterterrorism efforts in the wake of the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre, cavalierly rewriting history to suit its thesis.
Granted, “You Don’t Mess With the Zohan” also dabbles in simplistic moralizing, the message being that Israelis and Arabs are really the same — so why all the fighting? The film even comes complete with a Palestinian love interest for the Zohan. But at least “You Don’t Mess With the Zohan” doesn’t do violence to the historical record (any resemblance to actual events or persons — with the exceptions of Mariah Carey, John McEnroe and George Takei, who play themselves — is, it seems safe to say, strictly accidental). And who really goes to an Adam Sandler film for the purpose of being educated in the nuances of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?
Sandler’s strong suit isn’t politics — it’s sociology. And “You Don’t Mess With the Zohan” manages to perfectly capture Israel’s complicated national mood — the deep-rooted patriotism on the one hand, and the fatigue from the ongoing conflict on the other. “I love my country, but the fighting, it never ends,” the Zohan explains to a pair of shaggy dogs with which he is sharing the cargo hold on a trans-Atlantic flight.
“You Don’t Mess With the Zohan” may aim low, but it also rings true. Then again, I wouldn’t expect anything less from the most important living Jewish commentator.
Daniel Treiman is the Forward’s Web editor.
Advertisement
This column has to be a joke, right? Adam Sandler is the most overrated actor and so-called comedian in Hollywood. Daniel Treiman's pro-intermarriage stance like Adam Sandler's and his barely Jewish Hollywood co-horts is an attack against Jewish women. Adam himself, to no one's surprise, is married to a non-Jew. In Hollywood Jewish women are treated like the plague that should be avoided at all costs. It's the same attitude one finds in the most hateful anti-semitic websites. It's nice to see so many "Jews" support the demise of the Jewish people through intermarriage. At least Adam's children, and probably Daniel's, won't be Jews and we should be happy about that.
Zohan, a story about the best Israeli counter terrorist who seeks to change his career and become a hair dresser is a terrible movie and a grotesque insult to Jews everywhere. The profuseness of meaningless sex and nudity, bumping and grinding, and stupid jokes puts this movie in the same lowly category as Borat. Imagine how the Jews in Hollywood [and maybe all of us] have fallen....We now are ample contenders in the quest of which one of us can be the most licentious pervert on the silver screen....Sasha Cohen and Adam Sandler being the top contenders. There used to be a time when actors, especially Jewish ones, had "CLASS." The world, unfortunately, has gone "Seinfeld" and while it may be a cute escape, a lifestyle or philosophy to live by it ain't. Unfortunately, this is how Hollywood and the Jews involved in it are portraying life and its goals---all to the exclusion of real life problems generated by these decadent and disgusting points of views that include millions of new cases of STDs every year, large increases in teenage pregnancies and in abortions, broken families and relationships, depressions, and suicides. It is tragic that real good movies with Jewish/Israeli characters dealing with meaningful and universal issues are brushed aside and hardly see the light of day because the Jews in Hollywood have monopolized the pornographic and violent side of humanity for quick bucks. However, if Mr. Sandler, Mr. Borat and the writer of this review, Mr. Treiman, can sit still for a while and appreciate fine film making as the art form that it is, let me recommend the Israeli produced "Beaufort" and the tragi-comedy "My Mexican Shiva." The Jews in these flicks, while not blessed with super human strength or 'joints', really make a case out for Jews being the chosen people.
Adam Sandler repeatedly has played roles that are reminiscent of Jerry Lewis's roles. Sandlers movies would be better made, with easier to follow story lines, and much cheaper to make, if he and his co-writers and directors asked Jerry Lewis for his advice, or paid him $500,000 every time to be a consultant.
No Lies, I don't find this article to be in any way pro intermarriage-- nor is it explicitly against intermarriage. It is simply an incisive exploration and analysis of Adam Sandler's Jewishness as portrayed in pop culture--and how his particular brand of Jewishness represents, for better or worse, certain trends in contemporary Jewish life. I agree with you that the representation of Jewish women in Hollywood is problematic, but that is a topic for a whole other article. And why do you paint Jewish women as the "victims" of intermarriage? Intermarriage is not as clear-cut nor as simple as Jewish men's stereotypic longing for the shiksa goddess; plenty of Jewish women are marrying non-Jewish men, and many of these intermarriages--like Sandler's--involve a conversion. Mr. Treiman, thank you for this smart, well-written piece.
I saw the movie, and it was great. this piece really does it justice. Mr. Treiman is spot on.
I wonder why the main character of this film is one who leaves his country to settle in NYC. Also in "Munich", the hero leaves Israel and stays in America. Obviously, a typical American "spy thriller" in Hollywood would have its hero return to the farm in Iowa - and not abandoning his native society for a new life in Denmark. Apparently, someone feels that the Jewish dream is to be an American - and not to participate in a specific Jewish society. Indeed, Daniel Treiman states: "To be an American Jew today is to be, like Sandler, a part of the mainstream, not apart from it". In other words, to be a Jew in America is another way of being a typical American - not another way of being a typical Jew. The Jewish experience in America is described as it compares with other Americans ("mainstream"), and not how it compares with other Jews. How sad. This is simply an utter collapse of the historical Jewish identity (in which being Jewish anywhere was the center of the world). The central Jewish experience of today's world is in Israel, obviously, where the Jews are their own distinctive society, language and culture. The adoption of someone else's heritage ("mainstream" American life) is not a Jewish drama.
There is nothing in When Harry Met Sally to identify either Billy Crystal or Meg Ryan's characters as Jewish or non-Jewish. His character's name is Harry Burns, an Irish name! Why not instead assume that Meg Ryan's character is Jewish and his isn't?
It "rings true" alright. The film looks down its nose at Israelis from the "superior" position of American-Jewish experience as it celebrates its "main-street" position on the American cultural landscape, a position that allows its most prominent citizens (Spielberg, Streisand, Allen, etc) to discard their real Jewish consciousness somewhere in Death Valley on the way to Hollywood. What a bloodless and pathetic bunch these pseudo-Jews are!
The idea that one's Jewishness makes them the center of the world and unable to identify with anyone else is a worn out canard that people have used against the Jewish community for centuries. The idea that we are separate from all others because we have our own Language and Culture reeks of a type of elitism which our culture has historically rejected. Our ability to adapt the Hebrew Language to Yiddish and Ladino speaks volumes about our ability and desire to become part of the mainstream. Making negative stereotypical references about the film underscores the divide between the modern Jewry who are successful and proud of their accomplishments (hard fought as they were) and those who still believe that we are isolated and persecuted. I am encouraged by the acceptance of Jewish culture around the world and from where I sit it is clear to me that the USA has been a friend to Israel where the Jewish language and culture will always be safe from persecution. As a US citizen the Constitution allows open discussion and promotion of Israel and all Americans have the ability to fully participate in the political process without any fear of retaliation. America has done much for the State of Israel at the behest of its vocal minority of successful and patriotic American Jews. Americans who love Israel aren't giving up their citizenship and they certainly aren't going to be pressured by people who dislike them for being in the "Mainstream" or for being less Jewish because they don't share the same notion of what it is to be Jewish.
I suppose by "our" you mean US Jews because many other Jews, learned about the US but not of the country,like myself, find nothing especially Jewish (or like me, humorous) about Sandler's performances.
To Joel Friedland: Also, if Sandler's writing/directing team added Jerry Lewis as a consultant, the resulting films would be wildly popular in France.
Yeah, movies like Zohan are hilarious, especially when you think about the systematic effort to ethnically cleanse Palestine of its native and somewhat naive inhabitants
The Forward welcomes reader comments in order to promote thoughtful discussion on issues of importance to the Jewish community. In the interest of maintaining a civil forum, the Forward requires that all commenters be appropriately respectful toward our writers, other commenters and the subjects of the articles. Vigorous debate and reasoned critique are welcome; name-calling and personal invective are not. While we generally do not seek to edit or actively moderate comments, the Forward reserves the right to remove comments for any reason.