LOOKING FOR COMEDY IN THE MUSLIM WORLD
Written and directed by Albert Brooks
Albert Brooks returns as Albert Brooks in an amusing tale that finds
him working for the United States government in an effort to better
understand the Muslim people by discovering what makes them laugh. The
assignment requires him to spend one month in India and Pakistan to
write a 500-page report about his findings. He isn't too keen on the
idea until he is told he'll be awarded a Medal of Freedom.
Two government agents and an Indian woman named Maya, played by the
gorgeous Sheetal Sheth, assist Brooks. His research takes him to New
Dehli, the Al Jezeera network and a secret crossing of the Pakistani
border. The latter two destinations pique the interest of both
governments and make them very suspicious. Very few people stop, let
alone respond when stopped by Brooks on the street. Some don't speak
English and one gentleman doesn't want anything to do with the U.S.
government.
Brooks finds comedy in the Muslim world and is able to do it without
being crude or mean-spirited at the Indians' or Pakistanis' expense.
He plays the same character he always plays, slightly neurotic and
self-involved, which is fine by me because I find his observations and
his frustrated, sarcastic asides funny. If you didn't like him or his
humor in films like Defending Your Life or Lost in America, you aren't
going to enjoy it now, so don't bother.
He makes fun of himself and Hollywood. Most notably in a scene with
Penny Marshall in which he auditions for a remake of Harvey that he is
completely wrong for since he isn't the new Jimmy Stewart. The remake
of The In-Laws is slighted more than once and I would imagine
rightfully so, though I never saw it.
A bonus for Brooks' fans is a sequence where he performs bits from his
old stand-up act. When he discovers there are no comedy clubs in India
and Pakistan, which were supposed to provide a major source of his
research, he decides to put on The Big Show. He performs his
ventriloquist routine and his improv routine, but how will the
audience react when they don't know what Brooks is parodying? I found
the scenes hysterical, especially the improv scene where he doesn't
care for the suggestions the audience gives him.
The film and Brook's assignment end abruptly and neatly, which most
will find as a flaw, but many comedies wrap up quickly. I got plenty
of laughs, so I didn't mind, although it would have been better for
the film to have a funny and memorable climax. Although Looking for
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