I wonder how many of the IMDb users who gave 'Ishtar' a vote of "1" actually saw the film. After viewing it, my guess is most of them didn't. As a comedy, it's no great shakes but it is hardly the titanic disaster that legend has it being. Dustin Hoffman and Warren Beatty play a couple of aspiring singer-songwriters with delusions of becoming another Simon and Garfunkle. What they don't even have a clue about, though, is that their talent is as thin as their ambition is lofty. The funniest scenes in the movie have these two hacks writing and performing their own works, actually some very clever stinkers written by Paul Williams, with screenwriter director Elaine May giving a hand with the lyrics.
A sleazy agent (Jack Weston) books the duo in an out-of-the-way location--Morocco. Almost as soon as they get there they become unwittingly involved in a convoluted plot involving the CIA, freedom fighters and weapons smuggling. This is where the movie starts to head south. The story gets hard to understand (or care about), the characters get fuzzy (Isabelle Adjani's is a good example) and the jokes get less funny. There's still a laugh here and there but they are fewer and further between. Some have complained about Arab stereotypes. They may or may not have a point, but if it's any consolation to them, the American characters aren't much to be proud of either.
I would only give this film the barest of recommendations, mostly because of some good comic moments created by Beatty and especially Dustin Hoffman, who has consistently proven himself an adept actor in comedy as well as drama. Elaine May's script is the main culprit here, I think, as the more involved the plot got, the more the film hit the skids. But 'Ishtar' is nowhere near the synonym for a cinematic turkey that conventional wisdom has made it into. If people don't like it on its own merits, that's OK, but to accept the word-of-mouth of those who have never seen the film is a shame.
A sleazy agent (Jack Weston) books the duo in an out-of-the-way location--Morocco. Almost as soon as they get there they become unwittingly involved in a convoluted plot involving the CIA, freedom fighters and weapons smuggling. This is where the movie starts to head south. The story gets hard to understand (or care about), the characters get fuzzy (Isabelle Adjani's is a good example) and the jokes get less funny. There's still a laugh here and there but they are fewer and further between. Some have complained about Arab stereotypes. They may or may not have a point, but if it's any consolation to them, the American characters aren't much to be proud of either.
I would only give this film the barest of recommendations, mostly because of some good comic moments created by Beatty and especially Dustin Hoffman, who has consistently proven himself an adept actor in comedy as well as drama. Elaine May's script is the main culprit here, I think, as the more involved the plot got, the more the film hit the skids. But 'Ishtar' is nowhere near the synonym for a cinematic turkey that conventional wisdom has made it into. If people don't like it on its own merits, that's OK, but to accept the word-of-mouth of those who have never seen the film is a shame.