***Some very light spoilers***
While this is not as good as Albert Brooks' Lost in America, it does contain enough witty observations and funny characters to make it worth seeing. Brooks plays a character he has played before, namely a man who reacts to situations. The premise of the movie is quite good: The US State Department want to find out what makes Muslims tick(or laugh if you prefer) and send our reluctant hero to India and Pakistan to observe and write a 500 page report(if he can also find out what makes Hindus laugh, even better). Two "suits" from the State Department accompany him to "help" handle whatever problems he may have. Obviously the setup here is for these clowns to make his life difficult. Some of this does happen but it is not developed enough to make them memorable characters. Once in India, Brooks must hire a local assistant to help him. This leads to probably the best part of the film (certainly one of the funniest) when he interviews potential candidates. I won't spoil the fun here but let us just say that the "suits" did not screen the candidates too thoroughly. The assistant he does hire is easily the most interesting character of the film. Played by Sheetal Sheth as an eager ready to please assistant who really, really wants to learn, she outshines all the others in this film. Many gags follow as they try and find out what people find funny. the humor is really full of throwaway bits (the call center gags come to mind) as well as some great visual gags (the Taj Mahal gag had me laughing out loud). A lot of the humor is at Albert Brooks character's expense so , as far as I'm concerned, the film does not take itself very seriously(The whole meeting with representatives of Al Jezeera is quite good). Many times a situation is not developed to its potential leaving the viewer a little perplexed. The end is a perfect example. They built up the situation in the last 20 minutes or so and just when we are about to have a payoff, they rush the ending and give us a very limited payoff. Overall, I would still recommend the film, just go in knowing that this is a satire and enjoy.
While this is not as good as Albert Brooks' Lost in America, it does contain enough witty observations and funny characters to make it worth seeing. Brooks plays a character he has played before, namely a man who reacts to situations. The premise of the movie is quite good: The US State Department want to find out what makes Muslims tick(or laugh if you prefer) and send our reluctant hero to India and Pakistan to observe and write a 500 page report(if he can also find out what makes Hindus laugh, even better). Two "suits" from the State Department accompany him to "help" handle whatever problems he may have. Obviously the setup here is for these clowns to make his life difficult. Some of this does happen but it is not developed enough to make them memorable characters. Once in India, Brooks must hire a local assistant to help him. This leads to probably the best part of the film (certainly one of the funniest) when he interviews potential candidates. I won't spoil the fun here but let us just say that the "suits" did not screen the candidates too thoroughly. The assistant he does hire is easily the most interesting character of the film. Played by Sheetal Sheth as an eager ready to please assistant who really, really wants to learn, she outshines all the others in this film. Many gags follow as they try and find out what people find funny. the humor is really full of throwaway bits (the call center gags come to mind) as well as some great visual gags (the Taj Mahal gag had me laughing out loud). A lot of the humor is at Albert Brooks character's expense so , as far as I'm concerned, the film does not take itself very seriously(The whole meeting with representatives of Al Jezeera is quite good). Many times a situation is not developed to its potential leaving the viewer a little perplexed. The end is a perfect example. They built up the situation in the last 20 minutes or so and just when we are about to have a payoff, they rush the ending and give us a very limited payoff. Overall, I would still recommend the film, just go in knowing that this is a satire and enjoy.