Yid Vid: Adam Sandler as Mossad-Agent-Turned-Hairdresser
So Sandler has made a film in which he plays a crack Mossad agent who decides to move to New York to be a hairdresser.
Weird? Yes. Profound? Maybe.
Sandler, in my humble opinion, perfectly captured the zeitgeist of American Jewry in “50 First Dates,” the film in which he wooed an amnesiac Drew Barrymore. (I’d explain how, but I don’t want to spoil the surprise ending.) From watching the trailer for his upcoming film, “You Don’t Mess With the Zohan,” it seems like Sandler’s summed up the mood of a certain segment of the Israeli populace (i.e. life is hard in Israel, much better to be a hairdresser in New York).
JTA’s Ami Eden (from whom I filched this video) seems to see a certain parallel with Steven Spielberg’s “Munich.” In my view, the parallels go deeper than the cloak-and-dagger stuff. In both films, the protagonists flee to New York, and, for both, their previous line of work follows them across the Atlantic. But I doubt Sandler’s latest will spark much in the way of Jewish communal controversy. (Although we’ll have to wait and see what Leon Wieseltier thinks.)
In any case, there are no Jewish profundities lurking beneath the surface of my favorite Adam Sandler film, “Happy Gilmore.”
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30
