Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World - PG-13

Odd comedy sends Albert Brooks to South Asia.

Rating: PG-13 for drug content and brief strong language. Studio: Warner Independent Directed By: Albert Brooks Cast: Albert Brooks, John Lynch, Sheetal Sheth Running Time: 98 minutes Release Date: 01/20/2006 Genre: Comedy

Common Sense Note

Parents should know that the film's comedy is premised on stereotypes and parodies, showcasing the protagonist's self-absorbed ignorance, and by extension, U.S. self-importance when dealing with "the Muslim World." Some jokes are potentially offensive ("Your mother thinks Muslim is a fabric"; a director says she doesn't want to "go a Jewish way" on her new movie) and some characters are obnoxious. Pakistani and Indian officials misread Brooks' activities, both sides thinking he's a spy for the other, and "resume armed conflict" at film's end (this is represented as a joke, in the background on TV). The film features some strong language ("hell," s-words, one f-word).

Families can discuss the concept of humor as a means to make connections between cultures. How might discussion and entertainment help to work through differences? How does Brooks' comedy reveal the effects of arrogance and self-involvement, despite seeming good intentions? How does the movie use stereotypes to comic effect?

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Common Sense Review

Reviewed By: Cynthia Fuchs

Despite its title, LOOKING FOR COMEDY IN THE MUSLIM WORLD, like all Albert Brooks' movies, is about his world. While the comedian journeys to India and briefly across the border to Pakistan in search of "comedy," the film's primary punch line has to do with the Brooks character finding that he resides in his own world wherever he goes.

Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World begins as Brooks (who plays a version of himself here) looking for work. Penny Marshall rejects him for her Harvey remake ("I don't want to go a Jewish way," she tells her assistants before he even enters the room). But before he can fret too much, the State Department asks him to go to "the Muslim world" to find out what makes "those people" laugh. Assigned to visit South Asia for a month, do research, and return with a 500-page report ("Don't worry," he's told, "They never read 'em, they weigh 'em"), he sees himself as a diplomat (his wife thinks he'll be the "Henry Kissinger of Comedy").

From the start, his trip is rife with the sorts of hijinks, awkward pauses, throwaways, and ba-dump-bump jokes that usually take up time in Brooks' movies. Disturbed that he's flying coach to New Delhi with the two agents assigned to look after him, Stuart (John Carroll Lynch) and Mark (Jon Tenney), he's informed, "Bureaucracy sometimes screws up." He also learns that his own reputation is limited. The only project anyone's heard of is Finding Nemo (so popular that al-Jazeera wants him star in a new sitcom, "That Darn Jew"). As he conducts interviews, his subjects smile politely and his assistant Maya (Sheetal Sheth) writes down what everyone says, which is not much. The 500 pages loom larger at the close of each day.

And so Brooks decides to deliver his comedy to the Muslim world, performing his own routine (while wearing local costume) in order to measure whether it makes the inhabitants laugh. As his audience looks bored and restless, fanning themselves and checking their watches, he bumbles ahead, illustrating and parodying the superciliousness of U.S. attempts at cultural "outreach." Brooks' persona is pretty much unmovable, which means he's not looking for comedy anywhere. Rather, the movie shows the process by which a cultural bully stomps his way through all environments, never hearing, let alone comprehending, what's going on around him.

His second show takes him under cover across the Pakistani border, where he meets with comedians who don't speak English. At the same time, administrations on both sides of the India-Pakistan border read his movements as espionage, mounting their missiles in anticipation of the other's strike. Brooks remains blithely unaware of his broader effects, emulating the nation he represents. And in this way, intentionally or not, Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World makes its point.

Families who like this movie might also like Brooks' Looking for America and Mother, or Stanley Kubrick's comedy about war, Dr. Strangelove. Or you might like other cultural encounter movies, Hidalgo, featuring Viggo Mortensen and a horse, and Lawrence of Arabia.

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Content		CS	adults	kids
Content
Sexual Content Brooks' wife shows brief cleavage; some belly dancers on TV, one job (apparently pre-op) applicant states he wants to be a woman.
Violence Some threat of war (missiles and guns deployed); Brooks accompanied by gun-toting Palestinian when he crosses border.
Language Some use of the s-word and "hell," one f-word.
Message
	Social Behavior Main character behaves badly, repeatedly, while imagining he's doing right, by imposing his values on his hosts and making assumptions about what's "funny."
	Commercialism Brooks stays at the Hyatt in New Delhi; running joke about the outsourcing work to India (references to Kenmore, Dell, Toys R Us, Harry and David); also references to Finding Nemo.
	Drug/Alcohol/Tobacco Minor drinking in a bar; Brooks smokes a cigarette during his (unconvincing) ventriloquist's act; Palestinian comedians smoke something to get high when he comes to visit them.