Should you see it? If you insist on it, I won't stop you.
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds."
Friday, May 16, 2014
Ishtar (1987)
How bad is it? It's a comedy with few laughs.
Should you see it? If you insist on it, I won't stop you.
This film has become infamous a waste of more than $50 million that grossed about a third of that, due in large part, I think, to unfavorable reviews that came from the studio bad-mouthing their own product during production. Warren Beatty can't do comedy and Dustin Hoffman, try as he might, is only so-so in comedies, so they were poor choices in casting; they must've been told it was going to be a remake of "Road to Morocco," but the script has maybe two dozen laughs, when it needed 200 for it's running time to be a zany comedy. If it were meant as a romantic comedy, which Elaine May was capable of directing and which needs fewer jokes, Isabelle Adjani's role would have been larger - but she and Beatty have no chemistry, so it would've failed anyway. There are some intentionally bad songs at the start that are funny and the vultures and blind camel in the second half were good, but that's only enough to carry 10 minutes of film, which leaves 90 minutes of boring.
Should you see it? If you insist on it, I won't stop you.
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