Review of Ishtar (1987) by Piso — 07 Mar 2019

Unfairly Maligned Comic Masterpiece Deserves Second Look.

Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman are brilliant and charismatic in this 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 utter 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. Never better, Charles Grodin co-stars as a CIA agent with dry perfection. 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. In one scene, Hoffman is on the ledge of his apartment building threatening suicide:

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

Ishtar failed at the box office because of bad press over its high budget. Stories about production trouble and a a budget out of control doomed the movie 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 aces the test of time.

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: **** man.