Sexylocher
Masterful Movie
Hulkeasexo
it is the rare 'crazy' movie that actually has something to say.
Bob
This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.
thogstacker
Just caught this on HBO several years after its release. Albert Brooks goes to India (?) to find out what makes Muslims laugh, but bombs terribly. Could be funny but watching Brooks actually bomb was painful. I had to mute some parts because I was embarrassed for him.Brooks' confused, why-is-this-happening-to-me, persona is intact, but the vehicle is too awkward, the script and approach uneven. I would almost have preferred something over-the-top than this too-close-to-reality handling.Oh good lord. I have to have 10 lines for this review to meet IMDb requirements so you can stop reading. I'm just typing lines to meet length their requirements.I wonder if I do this If it will fulfill their arbitrary guidelines
Blueghost
Other reviewers have got it wrong. This isn't dry intellectual humor that'll have you laughing hours later after you think about the line. This is vapid and uninspired humor that was horribly executed and horribly shot.The camera angles are uninspired, the music is canned, the acting and overall film are simply poorly directed. Lots of master shots, few if any cutaways. There is absolutely nothing here to accentuate the humor in the film. It's bland as can be.The one scene that had some humor in it was left on the cutting room floor, and the other comedic sequence cast some aspirations on international rivals.The real crux of the matter is that the film presupposes that somehow humor is not universal. It also demonstrates a kind of intellectual high-brow naiveté about the middle east. Ironically enough the film was allegedly aimed at a western audience and trying to bridge social divides, but falls miserably flat on its face through lack of zest.The other aspect is that this is, more likely, a test market film that needed to recoup its losses. It was shot with a minimal budget, and had production values to match. What was being tested here (the director? the viability of shooting a low budget film in India?) I have no idea, but it's market appeal has all the earmarks of a film that is ready to have its return and market analysis fast tracked to the studio heads and marketing department.Why on earth there would be more than 100 reviews for this film is beyond me. What's even more puzzling is why there would be praises heaped onto this thing when it was intentionally half baked.Did I mention the ending? Well, I can't, but it's not funny, just like the rest of the film.
hydrogenu
First, those supposed to be smart viewers don't tell me that I don't get the movie because I'm not a thinking man.The movie is supposed to be a parody and satire. The main character is supposed to be the butt of joke in the movie.Alberts Blook playing himself was a big mistake. The idea of parody is to copy and twist a well known and respected character. Outside of US Albet is virtually unknown. Inside US Brook is practically unfunny. So we ended up with an unfunny character played an unfunny character to portray unfunny comedian.In the whole movie, Bloook goes around to do his unfunny act and shout "look at me, I'm so unfunny. I'm supposed to be unfunny and the audiences in the movie don't laugh with me. It's supposed to be that way so that it's unfunny and the audiences in the movie theater don't laugh at all. It's intended to shoot that way to show my higher intelligence, which is rat brain."It's painful to watch.
level_header
What a wasted opportunity!! Dreadful, a gag free 90 minutes that never raises a smile. Albert Brooks wastes everyones time with being 'intentionally unfunny' with poor material performing to blank faces and disapproval. There's nothing of any depth here. On paper it must have looked lazy, vacuous and empty, devoid of any substance so why bother to make it? Giving him a project after Finding Nemo seems to be the only reason this was made. DREADFUL. An unfunny attempt at comedy, what's more unappealing than that. Given the potential of the situation, this could have been revolutionary, instead it's as funny as listening to a spoiled rich westerner complaining about flying economy. Low I.Q.Crap.
