Ishtar

            This movie is bad. Really bad. No wonder it bombed. Warren Beaty and Dutstin hoffman star as the singing and songwriting duo of Rogers and Clark, who hit it off at a restaurant and watch their relationships disintegrate as their partnership goes nowhere and levels their finances. As a last ditch effort, they call an agent and look for a booking, anywhere they can find one, and they find it in Morocco. On route to Marechesh, they must travel through the unstable state of Ishtar, on the verge of communist revolution, and in which archaeologists have just unearthed a map which tells of 2 messengers in a time of great upheaval in ishtar.

            As they arrive on the scene, a young woman (Isabelle Idjani) who is being hunted for the map and her life addresses Clark, and gets his passport and belongings in exchange for hers. When he is stranded, he comes into contact with a CIA agent (Charles Grodin) who makes him effectively a deputy. Meanwhile Rogers is recruited to be a communist.

            Soon they are betrayed by their government and must escape with their lives.

It’s the classic tale of lives bound for nowhere which are turned around by strange circumstances, and though there is not very much that’s good about this movie, there are some very funny scenes, and some good laughs, but all in all, it really stinks. It’s worth seeing once.