Pop Smart - Whither Adam Sandler?

So where is everyone with Adam Sandler? As we head into the weekend and what feels like the zillionth vehicle, You Don’t Mess With the Zohan, I’m at a complete loss as to whether to consider Sandler a legitimate comedic talent of his generation. It’s been long enough since his departure from his mugging days on “Saturday Night Live,” and he now has what we haughtily refer to as a “body of work” to start wondering where he belongs in the grand scheme of things. Will Zohan be the decider? I guess we’ll literally have to see.

While the film is checking in at a woeful 35 percent on the old Tomato-meter on Rotten Tomatoes, further research reveals a more divided camp — especially when you start reading the more smarty-pants reviewers. The decided majority opinion falls in with those like the Globe and Mail’s Rick Groen, who writes:

Mess with The Zohan if you like, but be prepared for the consequences. This picture is to comedy what carpet bombing is to aerial warfare: The onslaught is so relentless that occasional direct hits on the funny bone are a statistical guarantee. As for any lingering wounds suffered by the more cerebral parts of the anatomy, chalk them up to collateral damage and consider it the price of laughter, Adam Sandler style.