Siskel & Ebert (TV Series)

The Incredible Hulk/The Promotion/You Don't Mess with the Zohan/The Happening/Baghead (2008)

Richard Roeper: Self - Host

Quotes 

• Michael Phillips : [reviewing "You Don't Mess With the Zohan"]  So even though I was mildly mixed, Richard, I have to say "Rent It", but have a couple of beers first. That's what I say.

  Richard Roeper : ...I'm just taking a moment here to absorb that you're telling me you're recommending this film. That, that, that's what you're saying.

  Michael Phillips : Yes, yes. Why is this a crime against humanity to you?

  Richard Roeper : First of all, saying it's better than "I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry" is like saying, well, a kick to the crotch is better than a knee to the groin. I mean, you're talking about some really horrible films. I don't know which half of this movie you thought was worth seeing, Michael. I thought it was a piece of garbage. And it's not that I don't appreciate Adam Sandler. He can be very funny, he can also be good in some dramatic roles. But this is the same joke over and over. Oh gosh: Hummus jokes. Gee, that's clever. Oh, sex with old ladies. Let's, let's show the same scene over and over and then, just in case, once again. These are jokes that fall flat, and then just stay there, dead, and the camera just fixates on the bad jokes...

  Michael Phillips : No, I, I tell ya...

  Richard Roeper : ...Hoping desperately that we will laugh, and there's just nothing funny here.

  Michael Phillips : To me, it's the most interesting, even though it's a mess, Richard, half of this film, and it's probably the half that's scripted by Judd Apatow, who's one of the screenwriters on this thing, half of it actually gets into this, y'know, I love the way it burlesques some of the Arab-Israeli tension.

  Richard Roeper : Oh, please.

  Michael Phillips : No, I'm tellin' ya...

  Richard Roeper : As- as they stand around talkin' about which political candidates they'd like to have sex with? That's, that's like it's tackling a serious, uh...

  Michael Phillips : That scene particularly, yeah. Here's the thing, Richard: I think this is the most explicitly Jewish picture Sandler's made, and that includes "Eight Crazy Nights", the Hanukkah film. And I tell ya, there's something in about half of the writing of this thing that really gets at kind of a post 9/11 atmosphere. It's already a hit with audiences, I'm totally mixed on it, but I say it's worth a rental, two beers.

  Richard Roeper : Y'know Michael, I'm all for politically incorrect humor, but there has to be HUMOR.

  Michael Phillips : Humor, you like the humor.

  Richard Roeper : And I didn't get it here.

  Michael Phillips : I'll take it over "Happy Gilmore", I'll take it over "Chuck and Larry", I'll take it over a lot of Adam Sandler pictures.

  Richard Roeper : Well, you can, you can take it. You can certainly take it.