Linbeymusol
Wonderful character development!
Salubfoto
It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.
Lollivan
It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.
Rexanne
It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny
Hal-203
True story: This is the only movie I have ever been to where it was discounted at the box office(This was like shortly after it had been released, I was like 10th or 11th grade). I walked up to pay and it was half the normal price, struck me as odd, but watched it anyway. Wish I had my 107 minutes back. The only redeeming feature was the previews and the Camel. This move lost like 40 million dollars for the production company. The Camel was the best actor in the whole film. The idea as a concept really wasn't that bad, but it jokes were weak at best and it was just dull. I really do believe this to be one of the worst movies ever made. The only movie I have seen worse then this is "Freddy Got Fingered" and even it wasn't discounted...I just couldn't finish it. At least with Ishtar, I only wish I had left, LOL.
SnoopyStyle
Lyle Rogers (Warren Beatty) and Chuck Clarke (Dustin Hoffman) are two bumbling struggling song writers. Lyle is a hopeless idiot. Chuck is a ladies' man. They get booked to do a low-paying sad tour of north Africa. When they land in Ishtar, they get entangled in an international plot to overthrow the government. They meet CIA agent Jim Harrison (Charles Grodin) and a revolutionary Shirra Assel (Isabelle Adjani) who's looking for an ancient map.First, the horrible singing really sinks the movie before it gets going. The sad attempt at comedy does more harm than good. And setting the two actors against type is really confusing. It doesn't work. Warren Beatty is OK as the clueless idiot, but Dustin Hoffman is completely unconvincing.When they get to Ishtar, the whole confused revolution really shines a bad light on the duo's relationship. They're willing to believe the worst of each other. And they are angry at each other for a bunch of lies. They aren't good friends because friends don't do that.And how blind are they that they can't see Isabelle Adjani is a girl? The only funny thing is the blind camel. For the camel, I raise the rating from 2 to a 3. For the camel.
evan_harvey
Hell is a video store full of copies of Ishtar, so they say. And yes, it's true! It's a terrible film. It's typical 80s: badly written, ludicrous plot, bad acting, you name it, Ishtar has it in spades. And yet so much fun.The plot is: two struggling songwriters take a trip to North Africa, one of them gets recruited by the CIA, the other by some local freedom fighters, hilarity ensues and then they release an album. Seriously, could a movie plot be any better than that? There's camels, bizarre songs and zany comedy.To be serious for a moment though, Ishtar represents a dying breed of movie. These days, 'bad' movies are either just dull and poorly written, or 'gross-out' comedies. No one makes truly bad movies any more like they used to. Ishtar is the perfect storm of wacky humour, outrageous plot and great acting by Dustin Hoffman and Warren Beatty.I'm giving it 7 out of 10 because I haven't seen it in years, and thus have nostalgic memories that I'm sure do not reflect how bad it actually is!
oscar-35
*Spoiler/plot- 1987, Hoffman and Beatty are untalented songwriters and singers on their last dollar that get the US government to ship them to a Northern African country were they get involved with CIA and questionable comedy.*Special Stars- Dustin Hoffman, Warren Beatty, Charles Grodin, Carol Kane, Jack Weston- Dir: Elaine May *Theme- Volunteers working for the US government is always a bad idea.*Based on- Hope and Crosby 'road' films *Trivia/location/goofs-Not interesting enough to matter *Emotion- Not as bad as widely reported. But, a somewhat forgettable satire of the 'Hope and Crosby' road films. The film's producers try a chance with real life pals, Hoffman and Beatty. A blind camel and flock of vultures are funnier that the male leads here. The boring cliché spy intrigues get worse and worse with musical accompaniment.
