I remember watching Ishtar on Netflicks. I'd heard some things about it, mostly bad things, so I decided to give it a go because one of my hobbies is watching movies that people hate. Rogers and Clark, the little band from the movie spend a long time in New York or wherever they live before getting to Ishtar. They crank out their little songs and the songs are bad. The songs are supposed to be bad as there are references to the group being awful in the movie. However, the songs are not bad enough to have me laughing at Rogers & Clark. The whole movie is kind of like that. So after what seems like 30 or 40 minutes of backstory and messing around in New York, the guys end up in Ishtar. I was hoping it would get funnier from here on out, and I was sadly mistaken. Through a series of events they end up riding a blind camel out into the desert, and yes, that gag made me chuckle a little. However, that was the only gag that did, in the entire movie. I won't ruin the ending for people reading this. It's not really a good ending but I won't ruin it for anyone.However, this movie is incredibly unremarkable. It is ridiculously boring. It's not so bad that you want to throw stuff at the screen. However, it's also not so bad that it's good like The Room and movies like that. This movie reminds me of Super Mario Brothers in that it could put coffee to sleep. It's not quite as bad as that one though. If you want to watch it, remember that it has a long run-time and prepare to be bored.

You could be forgiven for believing Elaine May's "Ishtar" was one of the five biggest financial disasters in Hollywood – the others being Michael Cimino's "Heaven's Gate", "Waterworld" with Kevin Costner, "Gigli" with Ben Affleck and "The Bonfire Of The Vanities" with Tom Hanks, Bruce Willis and others.But you would be WRONG. These five films are merely the most FAMOUS fiscal flops (alliteration!)There are DOZENS that equal and even surpass them. Ever heard of "Mars Needs Moms"? Precisely.Released (or more properly – escaped) just three years ago, THAT box-office bomb barely clawed back twenty of the one hundred and fifty big ones it cost to make.And back in the days of the Studio System, the number of films that are considered to be classics today – is equalled by those that just DISAPPEARED.The studios figured that releasing them would cost more in DAMAGE to their studio and stars than the bombs would net – so cut as much usable material (like battle scenes which could be used as stock footage) from them as possible and BURNED the rest.However now that the Studio System is long gone, EVERYTHING gets SOME sort of release.Thus "Ishtar", which cost $55M to make (a big budget in 1987) was eventually released, netting just $7M at the US box office.But this does not tell the whole story. The worldwide figures are unavailable – then you have to factor in video, TV and latterly, DVD rights. Nevertheless, it is reasonable to assume that overall, the movie is still a long way short of covering its production costs.These were worsened by the studio's insistence on giving the film high production values. The reason being that having heavyweights like Dustin Hoffman and Warren Beatty (who had championed Elaine May in the first place) on board, they were not about to scrimp it.Which is the film's first problem. Elaine had envisioned it as a "Road To…" movie (although it comes across more like those Sixties Bond spoofs – like "Danger Route" and "Our Man In Marrakesh") with a modest budget, shot locally – not an epic, part-made in Morocco.Furthermore, the studio insisted on paying both its lead actors a fortune – while both would have been happy with far less.To make things worse, the political situation in North Africa at the time was TENSE.Then to cap it all, just as the film was nearing completion, David Puttnam (now LORD Puttnam) was brought in as the studio's new head of production. He hated Beatty, Hoffman and production cost waste in equal measure – and publicly condemned the movie on the basis of all three.And all along the way, there had been a plethora of problems and fallouts too numerous to mention here – all of which conspired to CAPSIZE the film before it had a chance.So what is "Ishtar" actually LIKE? Well, most of those who decried it never even SAW it. It is actually not that bad.Beatty and Hoffman's chemistry is pretty good, Charles Grodin is as funny as ever – and the "blind" camel steals every scene he is in (the camel originally "signed" for the part got eaten instead).Plus Paul Williams' songs are realistically awful (Beatty and Hoffman play bad singer-songwriters) Dave Grusin's score is fine, May's script and direction is okay (although after "Ishtar", she never got to direct another movie) and altogether the film lopes along agreeably, never becoming boring (which is more than can be said for the other four films listed above).So if you find this piece in your DVD hire shop or it turns up on your TV schedules – give it a try. It may not be in my All Time Top Ten Movie list – or even my top hundred – but it is NOT as bad as many would have you believe.On its original release, it was well received at its three premieres, hit Number One at the box office during its opening week – and almost all of IMDb's 121 reviews (written by actual PEOPLE) are POSITIVE.And it is now available on Blu-Ray.I finally saw it a few days ago on DiggerMovie HD and LOLed many times (particularly during the scenes involving that camel). And as Elaine herself once said, "If all of the people who hate "Ishtar" had SEEN it – I would be a rich woman today."

Last time I watched this film before tonight was in 1995. It was just as painful now as it was then. I did not laugh even once, not a chuckle or a slight grin. Please only watch this movie if you are forced to watch it or it is on your list of "must watch" because your hand is forced. The plot is horrible and weak. The soundtrack is typical 80's elevator music trash. Cinematography is as barren as the desert scene on the box cover. Hoffman is a great actor but it seems the writers never afforded him a strong enough script to even shine. The Direction must have been on heavy drugs because there was no effort to make this film interesting as it progressed.

Certainly not as bad as its reputation would lead you to believe, but it's no real surprise that this Elaine May film is not hysterically funny. The basic premise (two bad singer/songwriters get booked to perform in war torn Middle East country) is simply not the stuff of laughs. The film is not fun and there's nary an acid-tinged line of dialog as in May's previous A NEW LEAF & THE HEARTBREAK KID and later THE BIRDCAGE. As the hapless duo, Dustin Hoffman and Warren Beatty seem to be holding back their energy. They're lifeless, especially Beatty. Nevertheless, there are a few assets. May and cinematographer Vittorio Storaro capture a lot of desert beauty and Charles Grodin (as a deadpan government man) gets all the laughs there are. He steals the movie, but that's tantamount to stealing from a corpse. The large supporting cast includes Isabelle Adjani, Jack Weston (as the duo's seedy agent), Carol Kane & Tess Harper. It's a trifle to be sure.