LOOKING FOR COMEDY IN THE MUSLIM WORLD
Written by Hombre Divertido
This film is intriguing, but will leave you looking for comedy.
Albert Brooks is a funny man, and his deadpan and sarcastic delivery
are ever present here, but there are just not enough quality lines to
deliver.
Like a good joke, this film opens with a set-up that is encouraging
and certainly creates anticipation. Like a bad joke, this film ends up
going nowhere and the ending leaves the audience unsatisfied and
disappointed.
In somewhat of a mockumentary, the U.S. government called upon Brooks
to travel to India and Pakistan in order to discover what makes a
300-million strong Muslim community laugh. Though the premise is
controversial, and the fish-out-of-water concept should be ripe with
laughter, the humor never really materializes, other than that which
is sorely forced.
There are a few genuine funny concepts here that have Brooks written
all over them. An office on the same floor as his in India is full of
people taking calls. Each time Brooks passes said office on the way to
his, we hear the people answering the phones in different ways from
Target Customer Service to Onstar Roadside Assistance to Dell
Technical Support and many more. The concept of all such services
originating in one office in India is terrific; unfortunately the
execution is so subtle, that it does not quite come off.
There are many such poorly executed bits in this film. Brooks does a
stand-up act for hundreds of Muslims that, for lack of a better term,
bombs. Brooks asks if they understand English, and raises his own hand
to indicate how he wants them to answer. The entire crowd raises their
hands. This leaves the audience of the film to speculate whether they
do understand English, or are just following the proverbial leader.
Again, the concept of a comedian looking for an out to a failed
routine by hoping that the audience does not speak English, only to
find out that they do is classic Brooks, but the poor execution,
causes the bit to bomb as well.
Probably the most unsatisfying aspect of this film is how rapidly it
winds up, while the audience is still waiting for it to get started.
The ongoing bit about the size of the report that Brooks is expected
to write generates a few laughs, but the fact that the trip is cut
short due to some conceptually funny irony, and the report never
really gets finished, is ironically indicative of the film itself. At
98 minutes, there was a lot more work to be done here.
The extras on the DVD are nothing to speak of. An added commentary by
Brooks probably would have made this film worth having, as it
hopefully would have answered some of the questions.
Recommendation: As you sit waiting for the Brooks humor boat to pull
into port, you will smile at a few dinghies floating by, but in the
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