You Don't Mess with the Zohan ***

You have to give Adam Sandler some credit for tackling the Arab-Israeli conflicts in a comedy, and while not wholly successful, "You Don't Mess with the Zohan" is actually funny and will delight his fans, who are legion, and even those, like me, who find him a bit hard to take in his typical comedy flicks. The Zohan is a superhuman Mossad agent who fakes his own death to go to New York and follow his dream of becoming a hair stylist.

Sandler's co-star in this epic his is packed cod piece. I don't think a gentleman's hisness section has received this much attention since the days of Monica Lewinski. Penis focus has become something of a trend lately, with the drawings from "Superbad" and the frontal nudity in "Forgetting Sarah Marshall." Maybe this is a more equal treatment than Hollywood's tits and ass obsession, or maybe it's just the latest gross-out line to be crossed.

The stereotypes - on both sides - are displayed with glee, from the permanently "Going Out of Business" Jewish electronics shop to the Arab cab driver taking catalogue calls while he drives his fares. Cameos abound, usually to good effect. In the end, New York becomes a kind of promised land, where Israelis can operate shops on one side of the street while Arabs have colonized the other side. You have to wonder why, as someone said, we all can't get along. But then you remember Zohan's mother on what's to come: "They've been fighting for 2000 years. It can't last much longer!"

Rated PG-13. 113 minutes. Dennis Dugan - Director, Adam Sandler - Writer / Producer, Robert Smigel - Writer, Judd Apatow - Writer, Jack Giarraputo - Producer, Michael Barrett - Cinematographer, Rupert Gregson-Williams - Composer, Perry Andelin Blake - Production Designer, Tom Costain - Editor. Distributed by Columbia Pictures.

Principal actors: Adam Sandler, John Turturro, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Nick Swardson, and Rob Schneider.