Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World

Albert Brooks comes full circle as a star/writer/director with this movie. From playing a fictionalized caricture of himself in Real Life to playing a fictionalized caricature of himself in Looking For Comedy in the Muslim World. This even has Penny Marshall in the beginning like his '76 short film about a comedian school. Its been 17 years since this was released and Brooks is now in his mid 70s so I doubt he will labor to handle all three tasks again.

Brooks doesn't play as much of a caricature of himself in this movie compared to Real Life and thats for the best. He is playing someone who is a fish out of water instead of someone who is comically tone deaf while being in over his head.

Brooks' comedy is driven by dry humor and subtle scenes that catch you off guard with the humor. Its almost like they aren't intended to make you laugh, you just do anyway. Subtle humor is less appreciated now with attention spans about as long as short hairs but if you give yourself time to pay attention instead of waiting to react, then you will like this movie.

The plot is about Brooks being tasked by the state department to find out what makes Muslims (and Hindis too as it turns out) laugh and it centers around the performing of a standup act. It is a product of its time ("Wars on Terror") which dates it but I found it enjoyable enough. Deserved kudos for not being particularly offensive too. There is a subtle line there that does not get crossed. Some looking for reasons to be angry might try to find something they consider wrong in this picture but that's more on them and not the movie.

As I said, this is somewhat dated and it surprisingly coincides with the actual increased tensions between India and Pakistan that occurred in the 2000s. I cant remember the exact year their strained relations made international news but i know it was before 2008. This film is also daring for American audiences considering 9/11 happened only a few years earlier and Bush's wars were raging upon its release. I can imagine war hawks hating this movie for one reason and anti war zealots hating it for other reasons and the rest who dont like it never were fans of subtle humor to begin with. I personally just think of comedy when watching a comedy and find this to be pure Brooks. It is even the theatrical debut of some of his vintage standup material. It isn't his best work but alot better than the reception it got and rating it has. People treat it like it's as lousy as the love guru.

Albert Brooks' films are an acquired taste. That said, his new film, "Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World", offers an unforgettable trip to some exotic locations in search of laughter, which is something Mr. Brooks does best. The point of his film seems to be that by laughing during difficult situations will unite people instead of separating them.

This is a film that has a lot of laughs in the way Albert Brooks throws his one liners and makes a satire of the idiocy of the assignment he has been given by those innovative guys in our government. Along the way, Mr. Brooks points out at how other cultures, India, in this case, has managed to become an integral part of ours in the way most American companies have outsourced jobs to that country. That becomes evident when we get to listen what is being said by the telephone people that work in the same building where they have found an office for the comedian. Even the White House phones seem to be answered by Indian operators!

This film is obviously not for everyone. Mr. Brooks' fans will have a field day watching this unassuming comic genius going through India and Pakistan in search of fun, but alas, what's funny for us it's not for other people. One of the funniest moments shows how a worried Brooks misses the magnificent Taj Mahal because he is too preoccupied with the job he has been given.

Of course, Albert Brooks is the best interpreter of himself. He has a style that is not obnoxious, or in your face. His presence in the film playing himself strikes the right note. Sheetal Sheth is a revelation as Maya, the eager Indian assistance who can't get Mr. Brooks' jokes however hard she tries. John Carroll Lynch and Jon Tunney are seen as Stewart and Mark, two men appointed to help Brooks perform his assignment. Penny Marshall appears at the beginning of the film as herself.

The film will reward the viewer going with an open mind to see the film because Albert Brooks is a funny man with the heart in the right place.

In an inspired cinematic premise, especially in these times, Albert Brooks plays himself as a comedian asked to find out what makes a large portion of the world laugh.

Of course, execution of this concept leaves a bit to be desired, but it does have its fairly funny moments, especially in the opening moments, when Brooks aspires to be the lead in a remake of "Harvey." He fails to impress the director (Penny Marshall) with his desire to be "the new Jimmy Stewart," and Marshall's phony, "I liked your work in 'The In-Laws'" doesn't help his ego, either.

At home, he receives a letter from the State Department asking for him to be part of a special commission deigned to found out what Muslims construe as comedy. He goes to Washington DC, meets former Tennessee senator Fred Dalton Thompson (TV's "Law & Order"), and agrees to travel to India and Pakistan to see what makes the population laugh (despite his assignment to write a 500-page report on the topic).

He leaves his lovely wife, Amy Ryan ("Capote," 'War of the Worlds") and cute-as-a-button daughter, Laura (Emma Lockhart, "Batman Begins") for a month's adventure - not for money, but for the opportunity to be awarded the Medal of Freedom ("the nice one - with the colored ribbon").

Brooks makes the point some might bring up that India is basically a Hindi country, although over 100 million Muslims reside there (also, it's doubtful Brooks, as a Jew, would have been welcome in some of the more militant Middle Eastern countries).

Anyway, Brooks soon begins his patented celebrity whining on the flight to New Dehli, as he and his two State Department escorts, Stuart (John Carroll Lynch, "Gothika") and Mark (Jon Tenney, TV's "The Closer") are forced to fly economy class, and are then stuck in a rundown office. During these interior office scenes, Brooks keeps passing a roomful of phone operators ("There are two spin cycles on that machine," "Welcome to the William Morris Agency," "This is the White House, how may I direct your call") in another funny bit.

After hiring a lovely Indian woman, Maya (Sheetal Sheth), Brooks begins asking people on the street what makes them laugh. He is given answers from "I don't know," to "I don't speak English and please don't touch me," to a long and involved joke about being happy and laughing. Not garnering anything from this effort, Brooks decides to put on a comedy concert for about 300 Indians. This segment is pretty funny, as well, as few in the audience understand the comedian's humor (he tells a lame Halloween "Gandhi" joke, does a really bad ventriloquist act and the old "changing the improve" bit) and have little or no reaction to it.

Later, he sneaks into Pakistan and does the same routine for a group of stoned "budding comedians" who do not speak English (it's a huge success), accidentally starts an armed conflict between the two countries and is offered a part as a Hebrew man who moves into a mostly Muslim apartment complex in the inaugural situation comedy from al-Jazeera, "That Darn Jew."

The bottom line of this movie is that Muslims really don't laugh a whole lot, especially if the jokes are not funny (I guess that could be said of most anyone)and they do not get the subject. It could have been even more biting and daring, but I suppose Brooks (who wrote and directed, as well) didn't want to rock the boat too much.

I've liked most of Brooks' work (he was great in "Broadcast News" and deserved the Oscar; and "Defending Your Life," "Lost In America" and "Real Life" were terrific films), and while some jokes fall pretty flat here (as does the weak subplot of Maya and her Iranian boyfriend), this is still pretty decent work.

Yeah, I would have liked to have seen him do his stand-up in Iran, Jordan, Kuwait, Egypt or even Saudi Arabia, but I understand his reasoning (sort of). Plus, I laughed more often than not, so, as a comedy, it did its job, at least in my opinion.

Albert Brooks is not one of my all time or even a mid-level favorite. He's always reminded me of someone who is simultaneously constipated and burdened with chronic heartburn.

With that out of the way, my wife and myself went on a date to the local movie theater this weekend and saw "Looking for Comedy in the Moslem World." This is really funny stuff, from concept through execution. But the humor won't grab you by the neck and shake you till you "get it." It won't hold up a cue card and tell you when to laugh. And it won't slam you in the face with a cream pie.

Don't listen to anybody hand you their politically correct nonsense about this movie being offensive. To anyone whose mind rises above the level of nit picking, they will leave the theater feeling light hearted and very entertained.

8 out of 10 (actually it's 7.5 out of 10 but who cares)

LOOKING FOR COMEDY IN THE Muslim WORLD is a thinking man's comedy. If you're of the 40-YEAR-OLD VIRGIN or DATE MOVIE crowd, please avoid this film and spare us your "It just ...sucks" review.

If you're an Albert Brooks fan, you most certainly will enjoy his deadpan delivery and hyper-worried state that we came to enjoy during DEFENDING YOUR LIFE (I suspect this is why he was also cast as the father's voice in FINDING NEMO). But enough about Brooks. Let's see what the movie's about.

Looking For Comedy opens with Brooks arriving for a casting call at Penny Marshall's office (It's noteworthy to mention that Albert Brooks plays Albert Brooks and Penny Marshall plays Penny Marshall). Everyone seems to only recognize Brooks as "that guy who played that fish in Finding Nemo." His career is grudgingly winding down.

But upon returning home a letter from the government appears in the mail. He is summoned to Washington by a panel of Senators to do a research project for them ("Our first choice, quite frankly, wasn't available" they tell him when Brooks asks 'Why me?') And his job? Travel to India and Pakistan and find out what makes Muslims laugh. Oh. "And you have to write a 500-page report on it." "500 pages? I don't think I've ever written anything that long," Brooks protests. But he accepts the assignment and travels with two government men as his entourage and support crew. Once in India they bumble through getting an office and a secretary named Maya (the stunningly pretty Sheetal Sheth). Now the hard work begins. Either people won't talk to him or give him off the wall answers or give no answer at all. So Brooks decides to put on a comedy show at a local gymnasium only to have that fall flat, too.

To add insult to injury, war bells are ringing between Pakistan and India, bells that Brooks doesn't help with by sneaking across the border into Pakistan one night in order to meet up with some future comedian hopefuls.

The thing that makes this film so funny is that it doesn't try that hard. It just is. Brooks' normal paranoia fits perfectly with the script and makes us laugh time and again at his overzealous fears. Also is the fact that it shows the complete ineptness of government in trying to understand another culture by sending someone to another country who has no knowledge of such a job. And they send him to India! Although there are a lot of Muslims there, it is mainly a Hindu country. An Arab nation may have been a better choice but obviously the government higher-ups failed to do their own research before sending in an even-less-informed Brooks. Now THAT is subtle humor. If you "don't get that", you should avoid seeing this flick. But if you enjoy that kind of subtlety, give Looking For Comedy a try. It's a modern day and cerebral blast!