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That was an excellent one.

Simply A Masterpiece

It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

"Relax."I did just that and enjoyed this story! The film has its ups and downs, but it seemed the whole concept was a joke, well I hope so at least, but it was easy enough to take as such. If the premise is taken too seriously, or the 'facts' and likenesses are taken too literally, then yeah, there are some issues... but this is a light-hearted comedy!"Gray skies are gonna Clear up, Put on a happy face"I don't know Albert Brooks comedy routines all that well, and did not sit down with any expectation that he would be funny, or not, or that the film was true or not, but simply wondered what these folks were going to do to entertain me for an hour or so. I was entertained, thanks!"Brush off the clouds and cheer up, Put on a happy face"

Other reviewers have got it wrong. This isn't dry intellectual humor that'll have you laughing hours later after you think about the line. This is vapid and uninspired humor that was horribly executed and horribly shot.The camera angles are uninspired, the music is canned, the acting and overall film are simply poorly directed. Lots of master shots, few if any cutaways. There is absolutely nothing here to accentuate the humor in the film. It's bland as can be.The one scene that had some humor in it was left on the cutting room floor, and the other comedic sequence cast some aspirations on international rivals.The real crux of the matter is that the film presupposes that somehow humor is not universal. It also demonstrates a kind of intellectual high-brow naiveté about the middle east. Ironically enough the film was allegedly aimed at a western audience and trying to bridge social divides, but falls miserably flat on its face through lack of zest.The other aspect is that this is, more likely, a test market film that needed to recoup its losses. It was shot with a minimal budget, and had production values to match. What was being tested here (the director? the viability of shooting a low budget film in India?) I have no idea, but it's market appeal has all the earmarks of a film that is ready to have its return and market analysis fast tracked to the studio heads and marketing department.Why on earth there would be more than 100 reviews for this film is beyond me. What's even more puzzling is why there would be praises heaped onto this thing when it was intentionally half baked.Did I mention the ending? Well, I can't, but it's not funny, just like the rest of the film.

This is in many ways a thematic "sequel" of sorts to Brooks' first feature, 1978's "Real Life" -- Brooks essentially plays a version of himself, using his own name, and is making a documentary/essay type film -- so it's best to get comparisons out of the way quickly. It's not as good. But since Real Life is to my mind one of the funniest films ever made and along with Brooks' next three films, a masterpiece, this isn't exactly damning.I hate using the phrase "acquired taste", but if those words do have any meaning then surely Albert Brooks' works as writer-director-star all qualify for the adjective; his reviews have always been divided, the box office always mediocre-to-poor, his fans though as fiercely loyal as any. I count myself as one and am happy to report that after the disaster that was "The Muse", Brooks is back on firmer, funnier, and generally more interesting ground. The satirical premise here is that the US State Department, in trying to find new ways to open dialogs with those angry Allah-worshiping folks, have commissioned a study on what makes people laugh in the Muslim world. Right away Brooks is in his element as the simultaneously arrogant and egotistical, yet self-deprecating and depressed paranoid entertainer -- he learns very quickly that he's hardly the country's first choice for this mission, something that gets repeated often throughout the film. It's all the more humorous and (coincidentally) fitting that the head of the project is played by none other than 3rd-tier recent presidential candidate Fred Thompson, and that Brooks is first sent to predominantly Hindu India (I guess we'd like to know what makes the Hindus laugh too, they're important and they might hate us some day).If you know Brooks, you'll know that much of the humor from here on out will be subtle, low-key, and most of it at the star's expense, but the larger issues of American and Hollywood arrogance in the face of a different culture are never more than a moment's thought away. The bulk of the film has Brooks and his comely multilingual Indian assistant interviewing people on the street (the vast majority of whom speak excellent English, but strangely don't know Brooks' work at all, apart from Finding Nemo, staging a pretty unsuccessful standup show, and illicitly visiting underground Pakistani comics. Some of the best scenes involve Brooks' assistant's boyfriend, a jealous and insecure lover with both a suspicion of and fascination with western culture that is mirrored in Brooks' complex fears of him – as a potential terrorist (for no reason at all) and just as a boyfriend with a potentially dangerous misunderstanding.This all gets a little stale and wraps up rather unconvincingly, alas, but Brooks fans shouldn't fear, the man still has it – he may need some new ideas or insights to bring him back to the level of Modern Romance or Defending Your Life, but at least he's got me laughing again.

closing your eyes is better than watching this movie .The movie totally puts the train out of rails .The writer/director/producer/actors all attached to this movie filmed it just in India and there they claim that they have searched for comedy in Muslim world ? Muslims are minority in India ,how can you find Muslim comedy in some country where Muslims are not even majority ? "i tries hard to search for comedy in this movie but I failed" .The writer/producer seems to be so unaware of the fact ,that Pakistan is country with Muslims in majority and he should have landed in Pakistan first to search for his so called "COMEDY" rather than India .Secondly when you're making a non-fictional movie ,you've to be damn right with the common facts .The writer lacks the basic knowledge about the Muslim world ,as well as India and Pakistan Both. You can get visa to Pakistan as easily buying ice cream. Okay few bad things happen and we laughed .Few mishaps and yeah HA HA HA. You're no Mr.Bean ,there's no humor in your mishaps ,its rather a shame for a writer to visit some other country unprepared. Next time if you make some movie like this please consult some of the translated Muslim literature first and by visiting real Muslim world ,you can consult the world map ,Thanks.