Film Pitch: Ishtar

Film Pitch

Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman play tone deaf lounge singers. Yes Tootsie & Clyde Barrow. It's written and directed by Elaine May, half of the famous Nichols & May double act and directer of classic rom com The Heartbreak Kid.

So these two lounge singers, despite their lack of talent or support, decide to take a make it or break it gig in a fictional middle eastern country in the middle of a civil war where they naturally find themselves embroiled in the political conflict and are played by both sides like CIA agent Charles Grodin and French beauty Isabelle Adjani, who plays some sort of Arabian freedom fighter who dresses as a boy for most of the film. Flawless casting, I know.

Hijinks are had, feelings are felt and we all leave the cinema with our wallets full because who wouldn't want to see such a star-studded box office treat.



Critics Say

It was ripped to shreds. It lost money, damaged careers and has been a synonym in Hollywood for terrible films which are also box office bombs.

The Los Angeles Times called it one of the most expensive box office flops of all time and it was nominated for three Golden Raspberry awards.

The film has a 4.4/10 rating on IMDB and 38% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Roger Ebert described the film; 'Ishtar is a truly dreadful film, a lifeless, massive fumbling exercise in failed comedy.'

So I guess it was the worst film ever.


Me Say

Ishtar is a solidly OK film. It isn't a great film which will be stored in vaults and lauded for centuries to come but it also isn't a terrible film which deserve the lambasting and mockery that it's received.

Beatty & Hoffman are good in their roles even if Beatty is very out of his 'Hollywood' persona. They both are convincingly terrible as lounge singers and they work flawless with the often deadpan comedy of the film.

Yes the plot is dodgy and I have no idea why the project was green-light but it isn't a bad film, I'd go so far as to call it a good one. It's a film which has sat covered in insults for thirty years and deserves a critical reassessment. It has all the necessary elements; a semi-acclaimed director, famous fans (Like Tarantino or Edgar Wright) and it has the star-power of Beatty and Hoffman who although obviously less powerful than in the 80s are still distinctly recognisable and attractive names.

Should you go out of your way to watch Ishtar? Probably not. However if it's a choice between Ishtar and any of Hoffman or Beatty's efforts in the past two decades I'll choose Ishtar.




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The 1960s Lost Psychedelic Band: Gandalf

Image
Gandalf is the sort of record the 60s loving hipster you know references to try to seem knowledgable about psychedelic music, it's a pretty obscure record. However since it's release in the late 1960s it has built a large cult following and the band Gandalf is now considered one of the best little known secrets of the psychedelic era.  Gandalf were together for four years from 1965 until 1968 and despite their cult status not much is popularly known of the band. One person hoping to rectify that is Peter Sando, the guitarist for Gandalf. Perhaps the most overt Psychedelic album artwork in existence “ I met Bob Muller in detention hall in the 7th grade. He had a band [the Thunderbirds] and they were in the process of dumping their guitarist, Michel Nouri, later to become a successful actor. I joined the Thunderbirds, later to become the Rahgoos.” Peter Sando recalled of the band's origin. Sando's earliest musical influences are common for many his ...
Read more

Interview with Don Craine of The Downliners Sect

Image
It's impossible to count the amount of incredible musical giants who were playing in the London R&B scene in the early 1960s. There were The Rolling Stones, The Pretty Things, John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers, The Yardbirds and so many more. However history tends to forget some of the bands who participated in the scene, on such band are The Downliner Sect, who were possibly better known for their drunken antics off stage then their Blues Rock on stage. So who are The Downliners Sect? To help me I enlisted the help of their front man Don Craine. The band is probably best known for having two songs of the Nuggets II compilation; Glendora & Why Don't You Smile Now Music-Drop Magazine: Who were your earliest musical influences? Don Craine: Major influences were Lonnie Donegan, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, Bo Diddley and Eddie Cochran. Where did you first hear the Blues? DC: My first taste of the Blues was watching a Saturday night T.V. sho...
Read more

Coloring Book - Chance The Rapper

Image
Colouring Book is the album whose acclaim confuses me the most. It isn’t infectious, it isn’t experimental and it doesn’t make me feel enriched by listening to it. So why is it so well regarded? I’m not Chance The Rapper’s target audience I’m not a Hip-Hop head, I don’t go out of my way to listen to mixtapes and I dislike it when religion flavours conversations to much, and Colouring Book is the most religious album I’ve heard in 2016. He’s a good rapper though and his style is likeable and I found a lot of his lyrical subject matter to be easily relatable but the thing is to often does the songwriting let down Chance’s rapping talents and too often do his good lyrics get overshadowed by larger more annoying lyrics. This is Chance's third mix tape. Maybe I’m just a cynic though, well that’s what several teachers have told me over my time in education at least. I disliked the happiness of the album, I thought it was too positive a album and I prefer a good...
Read more