I’ve been spending all day trying to figure out the Albert Brooks/Sheetal Sheth movie Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World. After sitting through the movie, I had no idea what Brooks was trying to do or what he was trying to portray to the audience. A day later, it’s no better. I still have no clue. The movie was boring and confusing. Brooks’ whiny self deprecation got old quick, and I am not sure how much humor really can be found in a movie that attempts to get all its laughs through constant cultural miscommunication. The East-meets West and terrorist jokes get old really quick, and I am actually a little puzzled that a studio executive thought it would be enough to make a commercially successful film. Maybe I missed the point. Actually, I am sure I did but I was too bored during the film to search for its meaning.
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p>From Seattle Weekly’s review:
He’s lost in India. That’s where his character, named Albert Brooks, goes on an improbable U.S. government mission to find out what makes Muslims laugh, so that we might better understand them. His ventriloquist act bombs in New Delhi; Al-Jazeera tries to recruit him for a sitcom called That Darn Jew; nobody gets him, and hedoesn’t get them.
That Al-Jazeera scene, that is one of the two funny scenes in the film and it features singer Shaheen Sheik.
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p>From Salon’s review:
When he [Brooks] asks the audience, during his stand-up performance, why there’s no Halloween in India (“Because they took away the Gandhi” is the punch line), the joke is supposed to be kindergarten-caliber, and, of course, the audience isn’t supposed to laugh. Brooks sets himself up as the butt of the movie’s big joke — a well-intentioned Western comic attempts cross-cultural outreach and just look what happens — but his bombing is simply painful to watch. It’s not entertaining, not even in a twisted, sadistic way, and Brooks’ obsessive attempts to engage his audience only coat the movie with an egotistical veneer. “Looking for Comedy” pretends to be a plea for understanding, but it isn’t about what Muslims do or don’t find funny; it’s only about Brooks’ failure to make them laugh.
And his failure isn’t fun to watch, its painful. The saving grace for me in the film was of course Sheetal Sheth. Yeah I am biased, but despite sticking her with an Indian accent, Sheth’s performance was good, and believable. Her timing was right on, and in spite of being in this film, I think she could be the next desi to break through, breasts or no breasts.
I also must admit I did enjoy Brooks’ embracing of desi menswear, the kurtas, the sherwanis, the mojdis, (thankfully no lungis or dhotis) however inappropriate his clothing selections might have been for the occaision. Anyway, check out the film if you are feeling lucky, want to support Sheetal, or are a glutton for punishment. But if you are looking for comedy, I suggest looking elsewhere.
Click here to read more reviews of the film, and click here to read more from the mutiny on the movie.
Funny you should post this now. Albert Brooks just came out on Jay Leno to promote the movie.
Guess what.. I am watching Albert Brooks on JayLeno rrright now. He says we don’t shake hands and other things which I can’t be bothered to type. L.A.M.E.
Uhm, Couldn’t they find anything else but the bleeping Taj Mahal for the poster?
I guess as long as the movie looks brown, exotic and foreign, most Americans dont really care whether its India or Baghdad. They all look the same anyway!
What do you have against the dhoti? It is basically a plainer and shorter sari for men.
here is my review: http://www.altmuslim.com/perm.php?id=P1632_0_24_0
btw Sajit–you did not mention the annoying microphone that was visible in every shot at Wednesday’s screening. Did we just have a bad copy of the film or did others notice a mic at the top of every frame as well?
sigh .. yet another movie with a fake sardar .. i’ll be crossing that off my list.
While I have not yet formed an opinion on this movie… my initial prejudice is that it is not worth all the hype at all. I generally find that I hate Western attempts at showcasing India.
I really think that Albert Brooks copped out BIG TIME
Why set the movie in India? He could easily have filmed in Old Delhi and made it look like Lahore, and Bombay could have been made to look like Karachi, and Himachal Pradesh could have been made to look like Kashmir, and Chandigarh could have been made to look like Islamabad.
I have to say that there is something so tedious about a movie based around an American’s ignorance of Islamic culture, then seeing a publicity shot of him with a Hindu lady and a Sikh man. It is just so tedious, lame, predictable, unadventurous, it makes no sense at all. Alright, so the joke is, most Americans dont know the difference between a Muslim, Hindu and Sikh, and the film makes that point. But still, why not go out on a limb?
And as a recent survey made clear, India is the one country in the world that has a positive image of America. Especially in the young generation, Indians do not have an innate hostility to America, they dont have a huge anti-American chip on their shoulder.
Even though it seeks to destroy stereotypes, by setting this movie in India, and perpetuating through laziness the embedded stereotype of the monoglot ‘East’, without differentiation or difference, it is rather depressing.
I remeber the moment I decided that I wasnt going to watch Gurinder Chadha’s movie ‘Bride and Prejudice’ was when I saw it advertised on a poster in central London – even though it is set in Amritsar, the poster has Aishwarya Rai and Martin Henderson standing in front of…yes…you guessed it….the Taj Mahal!
I’m so disappointed. I was waiting for the 20th with great anticipation. But I guess I’ll still go for Sheetal Sheth and wince my way through the rest.
I have nothing against the Dhoti. I just don’t think I wanted to see that much of Brooks’ leg.
Zahir: The visible mic (it was visible throughout the film) was awful. It was funny, maybe for the first two minutes, but after that i thought it was stupid and made the movie look unfinished, although they could have shown us a copy which wasn’t exactly the final version.
is there still room for me on the hater’s bandwagon? clambers up i heard this brooks guy on the radio today, and any vague interest i might have had in
sheetalthe movie immediately vanished. bollocks!!!btw, i know i’m supposed to be a culture critic and all, but movies aren’t my strong suit. who is this brooks dude and has he done anything of consequence?
peace
Siddhartha m:
Thank could be subjective. Here is his movie list. His most famous role was the voice of Marlin the clownfish in Finding Nemo. He always plays the same role: himself. His humor is stereo-typically Jewish and might not appeal to non-Jews (and many Jews as well). He is not Jerry Seinfeld.
I remember really liking his short films on the original Saturday Night Live (was that 30 years ago?). Here is a little-known piece of Albert Brooks trivia. In one film, he played a producer who was trying to get the network to accept his concepts for new pilot sitcoms. In one pilot, he plays a guy in a “menage-a-trois” relationship with two women. The joke is that instead of double the sex it was triple the relationship conflicts. The name of his pilot was called “Three’s company”. Two years later came this show. Was it coincidence or did he plagiarize a real sitcom idea that was circulating at the same time? Hmm.
Siddhartha- Brooks has made his name as more of a “thinking man’s Woody Allen”, if that makes any sense. Basically he’s dropped the nebbish angsty jittery thing that Allen has copyrighted and replaced it with a Costco private label attempt at Dennis Miller. I thought his movies “The Muse” and “Defending Your Life” were quite good, but his stuff tends to play to a nice white suburban audience; I don’t think he “gets” the concept of Brown enough to have made any solid statements in this venture. It’s like he runs up to the line but asks permission to cross it and then doesn’t anyway. Especially now, after hearing what the SM reviewers board has to say, I think I’ll skip this movie unless it comes on HBO on a Sunday afternoon, and go see Rang De Basanti instead. (w00t Aamir Khan)
I posted this in the other LFCITMW thread but if you pick up this week’s New York Magazine you’ll see a review of this movie: (see here.)
From the article: “The character of ‘Brooks’ is clearly meant to represent the solipsistic Ugly American, but the way the writer-director handles the Indians (and a few Pakistanis, in the course of a furtive border crossing) gives no indication that he explored the culture himself. “
Sajit: they concur with you… Not sure I will go see this even with Miss Sheth (as much as I do love her.) … The trailer was cringe-worthy enough.
Oh dear – from the review that Priya linked to:
They kind of miss the point entirely. Her character is Hindu. And then the review goes on to say that he ends up by writing a report on the history of India, as if India is the locus of the problem America faces with the ‘Muslim world’
What a misconceived embarassment.
michael and dd, thanks for the edumacation. i see i haven’t missed much. dd, your concept of a “costco private label dennis miller” is hilarious and horrifying all at once!
peace
Siddhartha, it comes in family-size, too. 😉
While I enjoy Sheetal Sheth and truly want to see her break through to more mainstream opportunities, I wonder if the script for this movie was more compelling on paper than translates in production.
Sheetal, if you’re reading, you ought to chew out your agent, honey.
Microphone placement:
That has nothing to do with the movie. If a microphone is intruding in all the shots, that is the fault of the projectionist who didn’t properly frame the film for your screening.
Wow, are you all being so hard on the movie. No, it’s not entirely successful overall, but I’d rather mainstream America go see this than Syriana. Syriana offers the kind of pseudo-knowledge about the Middle East that’s been America’s problem from the get-go. Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World offers an intelligent alternative–an honest confession of ignorance. That’s the first step toward enlightenment.
For those of you who want to see Ms.Sheth, without having to see the movie, you can pick up the current issue of Maxim, or go to there website here. NSFW
Interesting take on the movie. It just goes to show dear Al wasn’t too interested in finding comedy. His only interest lay in to bounce his stupid jokes off a “supposedly Muslim world” and get the laughs. The subject had great potential on many fronts, comedy being one of them. But the cheap unintelligent style of getting laughs, as per your review, just goes to show such a subject should have been handled by someone far more adept at the job.
the movie looks really stupid.. oh well..another one bites the dust.
I’m conflicted. I’ve vowed to never look at another copy of Maxim ever since the denegration of Gandhi a couple of years ago. But the prospect of seeing a semi-clad Sheetal striking sordid poses threaten to outweigh my bold renunciation of Maxim type soft-smut.
i seem to feel a cringe coming on. i’m not impressed with most western comedies anymore. and what’s the deal with the almost sardar? i dont get it.
I’ve seen Sheetal in person and she is attractive. But wait a sec — I appreciate the irony in her decision to pose in Maxim of all places, despite her annoyance with Hollywood agents suggesting she get a boob job. So she didn’t want to get the silicone, fine, but it’s OK to pose in Maxim which is KNOWN for showing off female booty?
Sheetal’s treading a very fine line here…. I suppose the MAXIM exposure will help her career but I’m not quite sure how.
“I appreciate the irony in her decision to pose in Maxim of all places, despite her annoyance with Hollywood agents suggesting she get a boob job. So she didn’t want to get the silicone, fine, but it’s OK to pose in Maxim which is KNOWN for showing off female booty?”
There is really no trouble reconciling the two – she says that she does not need to get her breasts enlarged to make her attractive, which she demonstrates effectively with the photos.
I second that…maan, after seeing those maxim pix, anyone who thinks she needs any job is a serious nutjob.
I don’t think she mentioned that she wouldn’t get breast-augmentations to be more attractive, but to be more famous, or capitulating to boob-hoarding Hollywood producers and agents. So that begs the question, why WOULD she be on Maxim? Considering that they aren’t exactly the purveyors of tasteful pictorials of the female form, it plays out to be quite the contradiction.
Precisely! I see a total contradiction on principle, not in practice. I think she did the right thing in saying no to getting a boob job. Like I said she’s nice looking in person and I’m glad she didn’t buckle down under pressure from Hollywood agents to get the boob job. But do you really think she decided to pose in Maxim on her own? The cynic in me says NOT — most of the ladies who pose there do it to advance their careers through blatant and quite distasteful exposure.
Compare the thought process: “I respect myself enough to get by on my talents alone, I don’t need big fake boobs to get movie roles” VS. “I’m going to pose in Maxim, cause those guys REALLY respect the female form.”
Like SD said, Maxim is not known for its taste, style, class or anything. Hence the illogic in her decision to pose in the mag.
Heard some excerpts on the radio, the lady had a really irritating faux desi accent. Visions of Peter Sellers..
Her accent was not exactly the real thing, but not as bad as the fake accent of Peter Sellers and company. I give her credit for not trying to sound over-the-top desi. Was a little puzzled by her saying “Libeeeya” for Libya…all morning I’ve been saying “Libya” out loud just to check if I pronounce it the way she did.
As far as the Maxim pic goes, she wasn’t in a bikini or anything, her outfit was typical of any attractive girl going clubbing. Not much skin at all..
Again, there is no contradiction between Sheth not wanting to get implants, and yet choosing to pose for Maxim. The first situation was meeting with agents and talent scouts, before she would get roles, where they would say, ”Your acting is good, you’re attractive, but you would get more opportunities if you had bigger breasts.” Now, after she already did the role, and has to promote the movie, what is the most effective way to demonstrate that her silicone-free form is attractive? Pose for a magazine.
Now, as for the choice in magazine, Maxim does not aim to refine our “…taste, style, class or anything…” Lad mags explicitly reject such notions, and given they sell better than staid Esquire or GQ, there is a sizable market that shares their viewpoint. A market that goes to the movies more frequently than Esquire or GQ readers.
Personally, I found the pics to be sexy and not distasteful. The pictures are no more revealing than what you see in a VictoriaÂ’s Secret display window at the mall.
The premise is actually comical, too bad it seems so unoriginal, boring and dumb in its execution.
I’ll see it for myself first, but from the trailers I just have to ask how many ‘Muslims hate Jews’ jokes do we have to endure before that gets old?
I think it’s great to see some fine brown skin in Maxim or any other magazine.
Interesting point and since I haven’t seen the photos yet I’m surprised to hear “not distasteful” as a descriptor for a Maxim spread — I guess the fact that she’s in Maxim isn’t as important as whether the layout itself was in bad taste or not. In general from what I’ve seen of Maxim’s output their spreads are focused just on T&A and are hardly lad rags, they are borderline soft porn. So if Sheetal’s sexy and fine without looking skeezy, hey it’s all good.
You’re reaching here — generalizations and no numbers to back it up — but I see your general point. She wants to reach out to the largest possible audience to plug the movie, so a Maxim spread assures maximum exposure. She will end up getting more roles in Hollywood, but not necessarily quality roles that would be on par with her acting ability.
“You’re reaching here — generalizations and no numbers to back it up”
Since you asked, Maxim’s US edition circulation is 2,541,000 copies, putting it number 2 behind the American edition of Playboy. The American editions of Esquire and GQ do not even crack the Top 50.
Circulation figures from Newspaperindex.com
Also, this item from CNN/Money, Maxim poised to enter nightclub business
Some choice tidbits:
“Maxim currently has a paid circulation of 2.5 million readers and its typical reader is a 27-year old, with a preference for tequila and playing pool, according to the report.”
Again, this is not an argument that Maxim has better content than Esquire or GQ – they are two different audiences. Now a Maxim reader may be willing to blow money on video games, gadgets, and movies with attractive women. A GQ guy may feel his money is better spent on a $1,500 suit that will go out of style in a year, while Esquire will feature teh best restaurants to blow $45 on tunafish served on a cracker.
If you are an actress with no visibility, and you want to get some attention, it would make sense to try to reach the widest audience possible. Maxim does feature some risque pictures, but IMO, Sheth’s photos do not fall into that category.
i gotta agree with kxb here, especially since, as people have noted, it’s not a particularly vulgar set of photos. fuck it, let the sister pose if she wants to. not posing in a mag isn’t going to inoculate her against all the other ways in which hollywood is screwed up, superficial, and sexist.
i just hope she got crazy paid. hollywood is fickle, too; and a career is easily sidetracked or ruined by the arrogance of some dorky
nebbisheswhiteboysexecs at a conference table. and female actors are usually spit out before they turn 40. so, girlfriend, if you’re reading this, get paid!!!peace
CNN rehashed SM headline or what? “‘Looking for Comedy’? Not here“ And their review puts down the movie as much as it’s done here. I was genuinely hoping for the opposite, but I’ll give this movie a pass especially after watching Brooks on Leno yesterday I don’t think he’s funny at all. Frm CNN:
KXB, points taken, good data. Though her choice of Maxim may rise eyebrows (certainly did mine) given their ciruclation and the non-distastefulness of her pics I can understand the practical choice she made. But this doesn’t resolve the other issue — will she actually get more meaningful roles in movies because of Maxim? Isn’t that what this is all about? Again my answer is I don’t think so, she won’t get those roles. It’s an understandable decision to make based on all the evidence you’ve gathered… but it’s not the best one.
Sid, I agree, she hopefully got “paid” — but will her short-term payoff for a Maxim spread result in long-term pay-offs for her career? Is it going to substantially increase her earning power and her profile in the biz? …. nah, don’t think so. That’s just the cynic in me.
And anyway who am I to judge, I’m not trying to advance my acting career anytime soon. 🙂
Ok people, call me unsubtle, ignorant, immature, whatever. But some of you guys sound like a bunch of (FOB?) aunties whining about her posing with too few clothes etc. I, for one, am absolutely thrilled to see a hot brown gal getting her due recognition as a hottie who belongs with the best of ’em all! Go Sheetal! (insert cheesy desi slogan here – “Sheetal, you are the pride of brown people” or something!)
Not an FOB, not an auntie, and I still think it’s beneath her dignity to pose for Maxim.
Ms. Seth, just skip the maxim and just star in a porno because you will never make it as an actress.
“just skip the maxim and just star in a porno “
Folks, this is the what happens when you only type with one hand.
If I was Sheetal, or any up-and-coming actor and my agent presented me with the script and the cast, I would have jumped at it. Albert Brooks is well regarded in some circles. I don’t find his schtick entertaining, but obviously many do. Finding Nemo was massive, and the kind of exposure I think Sheetal Sheth will get from this film is huge.
Rare: I think she is well on her way of making it as an actress, and I agree with the others, the spread is tasteful, especially for Maxim. It is FAR from pornographic. The sista is doing her thing–and doing it well–and I think we need to big her up for that.
Nobody went to see Finding Nemo because of Albert Brooks!
But I’m shocked that no one has mentioned his highly regarded comic performance in Broadcast News. Snagged an Oscar nom for that one, too.
Sajit, I can see where you’re coming from. But on the other hand I don’t know if the demographic that Albert Brooks pulls into the box office is the demographic that has the power or interest to make Sheetal Sheth’s career pop. I suppose opportunity is opportunity, and hopefully she can turn this vehicle into a situation that makes her stand out as an actress, instead of pulling her down with it.
As a publicist in Hollywood, the script is tired, actors got blase reviews, and the film is considered as another “waste of Industry money” with attempts to capitalize on the ethnic market. Sheik’s pseudo singing talents with Seth’s faux acting sensibilities won’t be able to compete with the likes of Kal Penn, Parminder Nagra or Bollywood actors entering the markets. Lisa Ray, Aishwariya, and others will be the ones to hit mainstream, not the pop candy actresses, 30+ talents who will end up in traditional stereotypical roles on billboards with the Taj Mahal. Publicity is generated to sell the film and buzz. And, Hollywood is tired of the “bindi buzz” with these actresses and seek more substance than “starting the Hindu Student Association” in your high school.
Yeah, what’s the problem with lungis, now? Just as good as anything. “I just don’t think I wanted to see that much of Brooks’ leg” is discriminatory towards women. Think about it.