Hey folks, Harry here... Hope you've survived the latest viral worm bullshit hitting the world's systems. Here's something to make you smile - a new look at Albert Brooks' LOOKING FOR COMEDY IN THE MUSLIM WORLD - that's a helluva title and with this review we now have had 3 really positive looks at his latest film. Don't know about you, but hearing there's a new funny nervey Albert Brooks film out there waiting to be sprung on us... That's a great thing, eh?
Hello,
I read the other reviews on the site for the new Albert Brooks movie (Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World) and they have inspired me to post my
own. I saw a sneak of the movie tonight and I have been thinking about it enough to write something on this site; which is a first for me. Most Hollywood
films are so forgettable that I hardly remember seeing them as I am walking out of the theatre. I admit I have become something of a snob over time.
Actually I like to refer to myself as a Cinema Ex-pat. I am far more intrigued these days by some of the twisted psychological thrillers coming out of
Germany, the creepy horror films from Japan, or even a small character piece from Australia, Spain or Iran.
So my point being that rather than add anything to the reviews that have been posted before in terms of talking about the specifics of the movie I
thought I would talk about its over all spirit, if you will. This is a NON-traditional film. The main character, Albert, does not go on a journey where he is
forced by external or internal pressures to change and grow. In other words, Robert McKee would hate this movie. This movie is not for all markets. But
like "Tarnation" a much smaller more experimental film, which I also really enjoyed, my hope is that it will get great reviews and find a grateful audience.
This probably won't be a blockbuster because it is too unfamiliar to most American audiences to make them comfortable. The comedy is high concept.
It?s the ideas more than the "jokes" that make you laugh and I just don't know if America as a whole is ready for that. This movie makes you work for the
laugh, and by work I mean think.
Towards the end of the movie Albert Brooks says that "in comedy you try things, and some work and some don't" (I am paraphrasing) and it almost
seems for a moment that he is talking directly to the audience. Beseeching them to meet him half way. To at least be willing to step into his vision and
walk around a little bit. He is saying to them "Look I know I've just shown you something you are not accustomed to seeing but isn't that the point of
leaving your house, fighting traffic and plunking down $10 to see a movie? To see something that you haven't seen before?"
I hope that this movie does very well for Mr. Brooks as it is possibly his least conventional but most daring to date; and taking risks, especially as an
elder statesman deserves to be rewarded. I also hope, for all our sakes, that this movie does well as it might inspire a jaded and rigid studio system to
give more unconventional films a run. I congratulate him for not playing it safe.
Thank you,
Jonathan Gale
