Review // Rock the Kasbah

[projekktor id=’21541′]

Rock the Kasbah could have been the perfect parody film, one that highlights the ignorance of North Americans when it comes to respecting foreign cultures or women, but instead it plays it straight, making it borderline offensive on several fronts.

Bill Murray stars as disgraced tour manager Richie Lanz, a man who once repped high profile musical acts and now runs a scam management company out of a motel in Van Nuys, California. When his one actual talent (a singer he half-heartedly encourages) Ronnie (Zooey Deschanel) books a USO tour in Afghanistan the pair head to the middle east. Disparaged by their bumpy flight, the dangerous situation (someone blew up goats in the city square) and the loss of her luggage, Ronnie quickly abandons Richie, taking with her his passport and cash. Left to his own devices, without a talent or military assistance, Richie befriends two American ammunition dealers (Scott Caan and Danny McBride), Merci (Kate Hudson) an American hooker looking to make her fortune by servicing soldiers and locals, and Riza (Arian Moayed), a local taxi driver who chauffeurs Richie around town despite never getting paid.

Richie is sent to broker a deal for the ammunition dealers where he teams up with Bombay Brian (Bruce Willis) an American mercenary. The deal is with a Pashtun tribe leader Tariq (Fahim Fazli) who is buying ammo to protect his people from the local warlord. While at Tariq’s house, Richie hears Tariq’s daughter Salima (Leem Lubany) sing and comes up with the idea of taking her to the city to compete in Afghani Star. Her father disapproves, since culturally it is unacceptable for Pashtun women to sing, let alone do it on a national stage. However, Salima is determined and smuggles her way to the city in the trunk of Riza’s taxi. I actually can’t explain more of the plot – it gets a bit convoluted and there are so many different plot threads that are haphazardly interwoven, the central crisis is easily missed. It could be Richie’s transformation (which does happen, however subtly), it could be Salima’s quest for fame or it could be Tariq’s battle against a warlord.

Not even the star power can redeem this film. Murray and Willis score some laughs but induce far more eye-rolls. I think Kate Hudson took the role just to see if she could get away with doing a terrible southern accent (she doesn’t) because it couldn’t have been for love of the character who is irrelevant for the most of the film but still gets second billing.

The silver lining to the train wreck that is Rock the Kasbah is that it features some solid tunes and Lubany manages to pull off some pretty decent Cat Stevens covers. The music is all right but the film is offbeat and out of tune.