Amazon.com
You don't have to be an Albert Brooks fan to enjoy
Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World, but it helps. As always, Brooks (as writer, director, and star) presents a timely comedic premise that's ripe with possibilities, and he capitalizes on his ideas with witty one-liners, hilarious expressions, and comedic situations that are patently absurd and yet, in Brooks' hands, amusingly believable. At a time of great fear and turmoil in the Middle East, Brooks plays a barely-fictional version of himself (a respected comedian named Albert Brooks) and dares to ask, "what's considered funny in the world of Islam?" That's what the State Department wants to know (in the President's effort to improve U.S.-Muslim relations), so they dispatch Brooks to India and Pakistan to write a 500-page report on what makes Muslims laugh. That he never really finds an answer is beside the point, because
Looking for Comedy is more about the nature of comedy itself--specifically, the nature of Albert Brooks' comedy, which is self-deprecating, low-key, and so idiosyncratic that it defies mainstream expectations. After a brilliant opening,
Looking for Comedy loses some of its momentum, but it's filled with brilliant bits and throwaway gags that keep you smiling from start to finish. One can only wonder, how will it play in Baghdad?
--Jeff Shannon
Video Description
"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 a secret location in the mountains of Pakistan. Written and directed by Albert Brooks, "Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World" is a funny and insightful look at some of the issues we are dealing with in a post-9/11 world. The comedy also stars Sheetal Sheth, John Carroll Lynch, Jon Tenney, and Fred Dalton Thompson.
