Although Ismail Yassine is a very funny comedian, this particular movie was not one of his best. If you're already a fan of Ismail Yassine, it's probably funny enough to still be worth watching. For me, it offered a number of smiles, but not laugh-out-loud moments. However, if you're not familiar with Yassine's work, I'd recommend starting with one of his better movies, such as "Mufattish al-Aam" ("Inspector General").
In this movie, Yassine plays Mahmoud Abdel Samie, a low-paid bumbling bailiff who can barely meet his rent expenses every month. When he is falsely accused of killing his neighbor and faces the death penalty, his beautiful young wife Fulla goes to work as a singer in a nightclub under the stage name Fifi Murad to raise money for his legal fees. Part of the job description involves sitting at tables with the male patrons and chatting them up between songs, which poses a dilemma for the faithful Fulla.
Before watching this movie, I hadn't been familiar with Maha Sabry, the singer who plays the role of Fulla. She is featured in three singing numbers, and has a lovely voice.
This movie is sold on DVD as "Ismail Yassin in Prison" with English and French subtitles. The DVD box plot description, which is also repeated on the sites that sell it, is incorrect. The plot description on the box says Mahmoud Abdel Samie's wife gets a job as a belly dancer to raise money for his legal fees. But she does NOT work as a dancer, she works as a singer. There are belly dance scenes in the movie, but they're performed by a different character.
