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| Left to right: Dustin Hoffman and Warren Beatty |
Welcome to Alternative to What: a weekly column that tries to find a great alternative to driving to the multiplexes. Based on releases of that week, the selections will either be thematically related or feature recurring cast and crew. The goal is to help you better understand the diversity of cinema and hopefully find you some favorites while saving a few bucks. At worse, this column will save you money. Expect each installment to come out on Fridays, unless specified.
THIS WEEK:
Ishtar (1987)
- Alternative To -
Rock the Kasbah (2015)
It may seem controversial to say, but I don't anticipate Bill Murray movies anymore. Yes, it's nice when he shows up for a cameo, but has he really lead a really good movie in, let's just say, 10 years? He's prolifically known as this charismatic and great guy to be around, yet I don't know that he's a great actor. As I am seeing advertisements for his latest film, Rock the Kasbah, from director Barry Levinson, I am met with this utter familiarity of a rock star travelling to the Middle East in order to have a tour. As he annoyingly spouts nonsense and tries to ham it up beyond the reasonable means, I am reminded of another film. It's one that almost nobody seems to love, yet is almost so similar that you could file for plagiarism. I'm talking about Ishtar.
Okay, it does seem likely that audiences nowadays are more familiar with the legacy of Ishtar than the actual movie. It starred Dustin Hoffman and Warren Beatty in a comedy where they do almost the exact same thing. They get mixed up with government spies and there's a lot of madcap action. I don't know that it holds up as a masterpiece of entertainment, but it definitely deserves more credit than what it inevitably got. You see, for all of the faults of the story and pacing, Hoffman and Beatty are just a delight to be around. They compliment each other perfectly.
What makes it also work is that the gimmick is bad, but inspired. The whole catch is that they're awful song writers. They cannot write a good song to save their life, as evident in the film. However, the songs are on a certain level able to transcend the quality issues because they are winking at the audience. If intentionally bad songs bother you, it is likely that Ishtar may be hard to stomach. However, it's part of the film's charm and inevitably why I think that it works more often than fails.
Okay, it does seem likely that audiences nowadays are more familiar with the legacy of Ishtar than the actual movie. It starred Dustin Hoffman and Warren Beatty in a comedy where they do almost the exact same thing. They get mixed up with government spies and there's a lot of madcap action. I don't know that it holds up as a masterpiece of entertainment, but it definitely deserves more credit than what it inevitably got. You see, for all of the faults of the story and pacing, Hoffman and Beatty are just a delight to be around. They compliment each other perfectly.
What makes it also work is that the gimmick is bad, but inspired. The whole catch is that they're awful song writers. They cannot write a good song to save their life, as evident in the film. However, the songs are on a certain level able to transcend the quality issues because they are winking at the audience. If intentionally bad songs bother you, it is likely that Ishtar may be hard to stomach. However, it's part of the film's charm and inevitably why I think that it works more often than fails.
Considering that the action comedy has become more of a staple in the annual summer releases, I do think that this film is a tad misunderstood. Maybe its actors aren't inherently comedians by birth. However, they do the best with what they have and are able to make something that is fun. I unfortunately don't feel the same watching Rock the Kasbah trailers, which feel like Bill Murray excess with no real other punchline. If anything, the commercials are obnoxious enough to make me not want to see the film, even randomly on cable. The amount of energy that goes into trying to make "Smoke on the Water" funny doesn't work. Murray feels like he's trying too hard. Go back to bit cameos and crashing weddings. It fits your character more.
I know that Ishtar has a bad legacy to overcome in order to watch. However, I do think that those that can overlook it will have some facet of a good time. For the most part, I enjoy it for what it does right and how it goes about being inventive within its familiarity. It's tongue-in-cheek in so many places, but it still manages to work thanks to the charisma of its two leads. The bad songs are so bad they're good. Maybe that's a good way to describe the movie, but it's actually too well made to be a victim of that. If anything, Ishtar is a very unique film the likes of which need to be seen to be believed. It's underrated for sure.
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