Ishtar

Friday, December 7 - Saturday, December 8, 2012

35mm print

“The most underestimated commercial movie of 1987—treated as a debacle at the time, partially as payback for Warren Beatty’s highhanded treatment of the press—may not be quite as good as Elaine May’s previous features, but it’s still a very funny work by one of this country’s greatest comic talents. Dustin Hoffman and Beatty, both flagrantly cast against type, play inept songwriting friends who get a limited club date in North Africa and who accidentally get caught up in various international intrigues. Misleadingly typed as an imitation Road to Morocco, the film can be more profitably read as a light comic variation on May’s masterpiece Mikey and Nicky and an affectionate yet brutal send-up of American idiocy in the third world. Among the highlights: Charles Grodin’s impersonation of a CIA operative, a blind camel, Isabelle Adjani, Jack Weston, Vittorio Storaro’s cinematography, and a delightful series of deliberately awful songs from the songwriting duo, most of them by Paul Williams.” – Jonathan Rosenbaum

  • Country USA
  • Rating PG-13
  • Year 1987
  • Running Time 107 minutes
  • Director Elaine May

IFC Center does not generally provide advisories about subject matter or potentially triggering content in films, as sensitivities vary from person to person. In addition to the synopses, trailers and other links on our website, further information about content and age-appropriateness for specific films can be found on Common Sense Media, IMDb and DoesTheDogDie.com as well as through general internet searches.