Movie Review: Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World

By Ron Wilkinson Jan 19, 2006, 16:45 GMT

"Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World" is the hilarious story of what happens when the U.S. Government sends comedian Albert Brooks to India and Pakistan to find out what makes the over 300 million Muslims in the region laugh. Brooks, accompanied by two state department handlers and his trusted assistant, goes on a journey that takes him from a concert stage in New Delhi, to the Taj Mahal, to ...more

Albert Brooks’ mocumentary about a secret agent on a mission nearly-impossible is one part laughter, one part bureaucracy and one part despair.  In a thin plot from which Brooks pulls laughs like rabbits out of a hat he plays a not-so-secret government agent on the ultimate bureaucratic quest.  He is dispatched to the far east to see what makes Muslims laugh.  He will receive no pay for his mission, only a promised Medal of Freedom, and the Academy Awards will disavow any knowledge of his identity if he is apprehended.  In fact, the Oscars will disavow any knowledge of his film regardless of whether he is apprehended or not because this humor will fly well over the heads of American audiences from Pasadena to Portland.

Down on his luck and looking for that elusive next job, Brooks interviews real-life director Penny Marshall (“Laverne and Shirley” (1976—co-star), “Big” (1988)) and real-life casting director Victoria Burrows (“King Kong,” “Polar Express,” “Lord of the Rings”) for the part of a lifetime.  He is all but laughed out of the room in a funny but all too short opening vignette and sent packing on his way to writer/actor’s purgatory.

Arriving home he finds an official letter from real-life Senator Fred Dalton Thompson offering him the chance of a lifetime to work for the government for free instead of paying taxes.  Seizing the opportunity to be victimized by big-time federal officials instead of simple film industry hacks, Brooks accepts his assignment.  His job is to travel to India, search out Islamic people wherever they are and find out what makes them laugh.  He is then to record this information into a 500 page report that will enlighten the dusty corridors of American foreign policy and pave the way for a happier Muslim world.

The fact is, Senator Fred Dalton Thompson explains, we have made rather a mess of the Middle East.  People hate America there.  But the government has a solution: find out what makes them laugh and then give it to them in spades.  If we haven’t already given it to them in spades enough.

To assist him in navigating the rough waters of Middle-Eastern humor, Brooks is assigned two government operatives, Stuart (John Carroll Lynch) and Mark (Jon Tenney).  Stuart and Mark combine the enthusiasm of New York City cops with the cleverness of Nixon’s Watergate break-in crew to form a team of the most feckless and hilariously misplaced operatives since Don Adams in “Get Smart.”  They recruit a local, (Sheetal Seth), who is assigned the task of actually writing the 500 page report.  As the film draws to a close she has completed the first three pages.  Brooks is concerned.

For whatever reason, Brooks does not over-develop this fetching theme and his treatment is respectful and short on pratfall foolishness.  Whether that is good or bad will have to be left up tot he viewer.  But one assumes he had to walk a thin line to get the cooperation of the governments involved

More understated than, say, the Christopher Guest classics “Spinal Tap or “Best in Show” “Looking for Comedy” puts a sublime and sarcastic edge to the political muddle of the middle east while maintaining good taste  Sending Brooks to a primarily Hindu country to search for Muslims is a supremely understated and spot-on slam at what passes for diplomacy in America.  As the screenplay reads, “So what, at 20% Muslims that means 50 million people.  You should be able to find someone to interview.”  In the closing stages of the film Brooks sneaks into Pakistan to look for Muslims there and ends up in a secret meeting with a bunch of stand-up comedians who copy American stand-up comedy.  Brooks wows them with routines that go back to vaudeville while his liaison is interpreted by secret military intelligence on both sides to be an incursion in the making.  Although what follows is not exactly the peace that the trip planners desired, at least it is notoriety.  The trip is a success.  He has shown he can do it when it counts.

Access media from 'Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World.'