SummaryA visionary sheik believes his passion for the peaceful pastime of salmon fishing can enrich the lives of his people, and he dreams of bringing the sport to the not so fish-friendly desert. Willing to spare no expense, he instructs his representative to turn the dream into reality, an extraordinary feat that will require the involvement...
SummaryA visionary sheik believes his passion for the peaceful pastime of salmon fishing can enrich the lives of his people, and he dreams of bringing the sport to the not so fish-friendly desert. Willing to spare no expense, he instructs his representative to turn the dream into reality, an extraordinary feat that will require the involvement...
The crisply sweet banter and the halting intimacy that grows between two shy people with a common goal more than makes up for a wildly implausible plot.
The film's emotional complexities don't allow for much of the canned sentiment that normally gets dished out in romantic dramas; what emerges instead, over several reels, is endearingly tender and complicated.
McGregor plays stuffy government employee Dr. Alfred Jones, forced by his boss to pursue the dubious plan of introducing salmons in Yemen. The plan is encouraged as a PR stunt, to prove that good relations between the UK and the Middle East are not impossible.
Therefore, Dr. Jones unwillingly cooperates with Harriet (played by Emily Blunt) and gets to know the Yemenite sheikh (Amr Waked) who is willing to invest lots of money to fulfil his dream. Scott Thomas plays the hilariously insufferable Press Secretary to the British Prime Minister. Romance ensues, but with some hindrance along the way.
Luckily, no knowledge of fishing is required to follow the story. McGregor and Blunt have chemistry. Scott Thomas and Amr Waked are excellent supporting actors and the movie is simply delightful. A rarity nowadays.
A film that is and does exactly what it says on the tin, salmon fishing is indeed "theoretically possible" in the Yemen. A witty and culturally cumulative effort from Chocolat director Lasse Hallström has made this quite an enjoyable flick that it quite easy to like, save for its flaws and high note drama.
Ewan McGregor plays Fred Jones, a fishery expert who is tasked with the damned near impossible, to somehow create a lake and transport ten thousand salmon to Yemen for a fly fishing hobbyist Sheik (Amr Waked).
In the middle, and the basis of a blossoming relationship is Harriet, played by the talented Emily Blunt, who is financial advisor to the gentle hearted Sheik, a man who you just perceive to have a bigger wallet than brain, but so much more is at stake in his eyes, with a deeper meaning of the cultural significance of taking ten thousand Scottish fish and sticking them in the desert, but with a political agenda, especially when Government PR guru Patricia Maxwell (Kristin Scott Thomas) digs her claws in, and what a performance from this woman indeed, being the backbone for much of the comedy in the film.
McGregor plays the awkward and often stuck in his ways Fred, while the Sheik calmly tries to pull him into the brighter horizon, he also tries to open his eyes to faith and believing in the almost impossible.
The film its happy notes consecutively, reaching into your mind and conjuring happy feelings of exploration and not settling of the ordinary. The relationship between Fred and Harriet can feel a little glossed over and too quick to suit the needs of the film, especially with her dilemma of being unsure if her soldier boyfriend has been killed on a mission in Afghanistan. The wondrous and most fulfilling part of the film is perhaps the attitude of Sheik Muhammad, his analogies concerning faith and fishing are well written, as his much of the dialogue of the film with quirky and big-headed characters who often have ego clashes, much of this coming from Scott Thomas, who excels in her hysterical role, her brushed off insults and lack of cultural regard are genius, especially when she controls the screen in each of her scenes, with relative ease.
The visuals are excellent, but thankfully these have been outdone by an excellent cast and a powerful script that never lets itself get too serious, because obviously with a far-fetched plot as the title suggests, its nice to see someone being up to the challenge of putting more in the film than originally meets the eye.
Far-fetched? Yes. A little sugary? Also yes, especially if Thomas were removed from the equation. Happily, she is not, and that, combined with the performances of McGregor, Blunt and Waked, makes Salmon Fishing in the Yemen a charming little movie.
The film's occasional toe-dips into real-world politics, sectarian conflict and the horrors of war are demure and unruffling. What's missing is a point of view beyond Hallstrom's interest in making his actors look as attractive as possible.
Alas, none of it, save Kristin Scott Thomas giving a peach of a performance as a political operative, smacks of real life or vitality. Even when it evinces spasms of life, this film is, more or less, a dead fish.
The ill use made of the stars' charms in this initially strained, then egregiously dopey mushfest can likely be credited to market-tested notions of modern popular romance.
It's easy to like this one. Strongly driven by characters we can all relate, this is a romantic story that will easily stand the passage of time. It counterpoints the simplicities of mundane life with the often unattainable larger universal issues like faith.
Ewan McGregor is brilliant and often times funny, hard not to like the guy. Emily Blunt does it up well as the silently suffering executive ready to come out of the shell and take a new route. And this is exactly the journey. Well sketched human characters looking to be challenged and growing up as they go along. The kind of thing we all oughta do but don't really commit to out here in the world beyond the screen.
It is worth mentioning my favorite character was Kristin Scott Thomas'. She is the constant psyche amongst the ever evolving theatre of people. The comedy relief at every turn and the fortitude of a true human reference throughout. Or maybe I'm speaking from that little crush I always had on her.
Salmon Fishing in the Yemen is smarter than your average rom-com, wittier, and has just enough to say to give it some substance. The story is really about the relationship between Jones and Talbot. But what their affair has emotionally, it lacks in physical spark and chemistry for all the fuss. Thus, there is a lot of talk about the fishing project, and a lot of talk about their feelings, making for a rom-com that's light on visuals, heavy on dialog. Full review on my blog.
Salmon Fishing in the Yemen is a mildly entertaining romantic comedy. Unfortunately, it's uniqueness is undercut by the heavy use of typical genre cliches and some eye-rolling plot contrivances. Meh.
I appreciate the humour and light-hearted joking around which made the film pleasant to watch, not to mention the beautiful scenery, but I think the uneven pacing and lack of subtlety in the film (can be reflected on how the important issues of the day were portrayed - I'm not really a fan of 'in-your-face' politics and don't find obviousness a clever trait in films) made me feel distant, as was the decision to awkwardly mix the laughs and the emotional impact. The characters themselves were less flawed, although what they make up for in personality, their chemistry with each other seemed strained. Nonetheless, it was funny, Ewan McGregor providing the lead for great dry humour and was the strongest character in the film.
I found this film to be, I suppose, rather quirky in a sense and pretty watchable but unfortunately it did seem quite tedious as far as the plot and moreso the plot development, is concerned. It didn't seem to me to be very believable, funnily enough(!) although the comedy comes from the far fetched storyline. There is some poignant dialogue but its almost sickly sweet in terms of sentimentality. I noticed that at first this doesn't appear to be much of a romance based film, indeed the main plot does take a bit of time to develop and become clear but I couldn't help but feel that although there one or two sub-plots involving a missing person and different characters, the storyline seemed to be lacking a general direction. It seemed a bit half hearted somehow.
I felt that the acting was pretty decent but the script was just a bit too 'frothy' I suppose - I'd been perhaps hoping for more of an in-depth character driven drama than this, which is more of a romantic comedy of sorts I'd say (as already mentioned). The main story is certainly quirky and seeing how the project develops is interesting but I couldn't help but think that this film had a lot more potential, especially when it comes to the local Yemen citizens reaction to the Sheikh's project and the Arab side of things. When it comes to the characters, I felt that Dr. Alfred Jones seemed pretty credible and a likeable character, flawed due to his personal issues, a bit of a bumbling loner but its the various plot twists and how they come about which didn't entirely sit right with me, though of course it isn't a film thats meant to be taken too seriously. I concede that some people may well enjoy this film more than me but it just didn't seem to hit the right spot with me, as it were(!). I could feel my mind starting to wander a bit after the first half an hour or so, which pretty much says it all I suppose but I think the cast did a pretty decent job, it was more the script to blame. On the plus side, one thing I definitely did enjoy was the panoramic ariel shots shown within Yemen - there is some decent camerawork and it would no doubt look impressive if shown on a large screen. One aspect of the story or plot that I liked was the obvious cynicism of the government, in how Dr. Jones is pretty much forced into taking on this project, regardless of the fact he feels its clearly laughable and unfeasible - whether this turns out to be the truth or not, I wouldn't like to say so as not to spoil the film for anyone who may decide to watch it and judge it themselves but I will say that there are one or two twists along the way (plot wise). I particularly liked the depiction of the prime ministers press secretary, who is laughably over-zealous, she's like a parody of civil servants I think? or if not then certainly the PR profession. More specifically, I enjoyed the text messages that are shown on screen between, I believe, the prime minister and the press secretary - the messages being quite blunt and revealing perhaps more of the truth behind their feelings and motives. Just to add, I also remember thinking I quite liked the musical score used in parts which seemed to go quite well with the tone and atmosphere of scenes, particularly when accompanied by fairly impressive landscape ariel shots. However, towards the end it just got a bit too 'carried away' I suppose you could say and I became less keen - there's an undeniable cheesiness to it but I guess thats par for the course of a (part?) romantic comedy.
This film seemed to be part comedy, part romance based, with a mystery aspect and a drama aspect to it but it just seemed to be lacking a definite direction overall to be memorable, infact the more I try and think of how to pin point my criticisms, the more I seem to realise that I don't remember a great amount of detail about it and that probably says it all really. Unlike some of the perhaps worst films I've seen, I can say that I did stick it out until the end of the film though - I made it to the closing titles without turning the DVD player off, so thats a plus. The acting isn't bad and there are one or two good aspects but I think it had potential to be much better and I feel that its perhaps trying too hard to be a bit of numerous genres, its a bit too much of a mish mash of comedy, drama, mystery and certainly from mid way through romance but it didn't really gel quite right with me personally. Its a pleasant enough watch but far from memorable, despite the interesting premise.
Thanks for reading my review, I hope you found it useful and thanks for all rates and comments.