Even Bill Murray and Barry Levinson cannot rescue this confused rags to rock riches story, inspired by a real-life talent show contestant
One presumes that veteran director Barry Levinson envisaged this Mitch Glazer-scripted comedy about a has-been rock promoter working his shtick in Kabul as Good Morning Afghanistan, although the phrase “Good Night, Vienna” better describes its reception in America, where it tanked spectacularly last year. No wonder: it’s a dog’s dinner of a movie which not even the usually reliable Bill Murray can raise above the level of confused, cliched claptrap. Murray plays Richie Lanz, who comes to Kabul on the promise of rich pickings, and winds up attempting to help Leem Lubany’s Pashtun prodigy Salima defy death threats by singing on national TV.
Kate Hudson plays a toe-curlingly generic hooker with a heart of gold, Scott Caan and Danny McBride are salesmen for weight-loss firm Herbalife turned wacky gun-runners,...
One presumes that veteran director Barry Levinson envisaged this Mitch Glazer-scripted comedy about a has-been rock promoter working his shtick in Kabul as Good Morning Afghanistan, although the phrase “Good Night, Vienna” better describes its reception in America, where it tanked spectacularly last year. No wonder: it’s a dog’s dinner of a movie which not even the usually reliable Bill Murray can raise above the level of confused, cliched claptrap. Murray plays Richie Lanz, who comes to Kabul on the promise of rich pickings, and winds up attempting to help Leem Lubany’s Pashtun prodigy Salima defy death threats by singing on national TV.
Kate Hudson plays a toe-curlingly generic hooker with a heart of gold, Scott Caan and Danny McBride are salesmen for weight-loss firm Herbalife turned wacky gun-runners,...
- 3/20/2016
- by Mark Kermode, Observer film critic
- The Guardian - Film News
Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World: Levinson’s Afghan Exploration Prizes Diversion
After a unique pit stop in found footage horror with 2012’s The Bay and an underrated Philip Roth adaptation in 2014 with The Humbling, Barry Levinson returns to his particular predilection for boundary pushing, politically topical subject matters in Rock the Kasbah. It’s a very loosely based version of the true account of Setara Hussainzada, a woman who sang on national television in Afghanistan’s version of “American Idol,” known as “Afghan Star,” even though it’s illegal for women to sing.
More along the lines of Levinson’s Man of the Year (2006) than Wag the Dog (1997), as scripted by Mitch Glazer (his first excursion since 2010’s appalling Passion Play), the title seems as woefully out-of-touch as it is unwarranted. Oddly unsympathetic, even as it depicts a subversive act of rebellion within a ruthlessly patriarchal and misogynistic culture,...
After a unique pit stop in found footage horror with 2012’s The Bay and an underrated Philip Roth adaptation in 2014 with The Humbling, Barry Levinson returns to his particular predilection for boundary pushing, politically topical subject matters in Rock the Kasbah. It’s a very loosely based version of the true account of Setara Hussainzada, a woman who sang on national television in Afghanistan’s version of “American Idol,” known as “Afghan Star,” even though it’s illegal for women to sing.
More along the lines of Levinson’s Man of the Year (2006) than Wag the Dog (1997), as scripted by Mitch Glazer (his first excursion since 2010’s appalling Passion Play), the title seems as woefully out-of-touch as it is unwarranted. Oddly unsympathetic, even as it depicts a subversive act of rebellion within a ruthlessly patriarchal and misogynistic culture,...
- 10/22/2015
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Rock the Kasbah
Written by Mitch Glazer
Directed by Barry Levinson
USA, 2015
That noise you hear is the sound of Elaine May celebrating. She’s no longer the architect of Hollywood’s most ill-conceived Middle East comedy. That’s an exaggeration, of course, as Rock the Kasbah never reaches the goofy heights (or depths) of May’s notorious bomb, Ishtar. Still, it’s hard to imagine what legendary director Barry Levinson and uber-cool demigod Bill Murray were thinking. From the off-kilter script to the uneven performances, this movie is bafflingly bad. Even Murray seems adrift in what, presumably, started as a vehicle for his particular genius. Rock the Kasbah is 2015’s biggest head scratcher.
Perhaps through sheer will alone, Barry Levinson (Diner, Rain Man, Wag the Dog) still manages to keep Rock the Kasbah a fascinating failure. What begins as a raunchy, quasi-satirical road picture ends as a queasy tribute to “disgraced” Afghan Star contestant,...
Written by Mitch Glazer
Directed by Barry Levinson
USA, 2015
That noise you hear is the sound of Elaine May celebrating. She’s no longer the architect of Hollywood’s most ill-conceived Middle East comedy. That’s an exaggeration, of course, as Rock the Kasbah never reaches the goofy heights (or depths) of May’s notorious bomb, Ishtar. Still, it’s hard to imagine what legendary director Barry Levinson and uber-cool demigod Bill Murray were thinking. From the off-kilter script to the uneven performances, this movie is bafflingly bad. Even Murray seems adrift in what, presumably, started as a vehicle for his particular genius. Rock the Kasbah is 2015’s biggest head scratcher.
Perhaps through sheer will alone, Barry Levinson (Diner, Rain Man, Wag the Dog) still manages to keep Rock the Kasbah a fascinating failure. What begins as a raunchy, quasi-satirical road picture ends as a queasy tribute to “disgraced” Afghan Star contestant,...
- 10/21/2015
- by J.R. Kinnard
- SoundOnSight
A Bill Murray – which is to say, a performer of particular stripes that enjoys almost unanimous affection from moviegoers – is a rare and precious thing. As much a performance artist these days as he is an actor, Murray himself has settled into being the communal whacky uncle on our mom’s side (dad’s is where you’ll find Tom Hanks). Murray is a piece of modern Americana, as close to a folk hero as Hollywood has ever produced, and it’s by his grace that many poorer projects find their silver lining. But like any legend, that reverence can be exploited to justify undertakings of odious construction and intent, which Murray’s latest film, Rock the Kasbah, most certainly is.
That this movie likely wouldn’t exist without Murray’s involvement makes it tempting to point an accusing finger squarely at him, but we’re all to blame here.
That this movie likely wouldn’t exist without Murray’s involvement makes it tempting to point an accusing finger squarely at him, but we’re all to blame here.
- 10/21/2015
- by Sam Woolf
- We Got This Covered
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