Review of Ishtar (1987) by Chuck J — 26 Aug 2006

Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman are brilliant and charismatic in this side-splitting buddy farce about the fantastic misadventures of two passionate, sincere, severely deluded songwriters attempting to become the next Simon and Garfunkel. Recognizing the duo's complete lack of talent, their agent books them a gig in the only place he can: Morocco. Through a series of absurd mishaps, they become embroiled in revolutionary espionage. The CIA is playing high stakes chess with communist revolutionaries as Beatty and Hoffman wander lost through the desert on a blind camel.

Every scene crackles with quotable dialogue and gut-busting slapstick. A personal favorite line comes when Hoffman is on the ledge of his apartment building threatening suicide:

[INDENT]Beatty: [to Hoffman] It takes a lot of [I]nerve[/I] to have nothing at your age, don't you understand that? Most guys'd be [I]ashamed[/I], but you've got the guts to just say "to [U]hell[/U] with it"! You say that you'd rather [I]have nothing[/I] than [I]settle for less[/I]...[/INDENT].

A scene stealing turn from Charles Grodin as a CIA agent is played with dry perfection. He's never been better.

Ishtar failed at the box office because of it's budget, plain and simple. It was a laughing stock doomed to bomb before it ever came out, despite three successful previews to audiences who loved it. Every bad review was based on the budget and the resulting negative hype. Don't believe it. The fact is that this classic comedy is in league with all of your favorites, and you're only depriving yourself of a lot of good belly laughs if you don't give Ishtar a look. Ishtar passes the test of time with an A+.

[INDENT]Beatty, writing a song: She said come look there's a wardrobe of love in my eyeeees...

Take your time, look around.... and see if there's something your siiiize...

Hoffman: Shit, man. When you're on, you're [U]on[/U]![/INDENT].