Nearly limping into theaters this weekend, Barry Levinson's Rock the Kasbah appears to be a near afterthought to Open Road Films, the studio behind the comedy centered on a down-on-his-luck music manager who uncovers an electrifying voice while stranded in the desert of Afghanistan. And it makes sense, the film itself appears to never fully understand its own purpose, wasting away a talented cast as it offers up little more than a handful of pop culture references and popular music.
That isn't to say that the entire film is bad"¦Murray does have a few shining moments as music manager Richie Lanz "”and some of his jokes are, in fact, funny. However, those moments (and jokes) are few and far between. As a result, the story is never able to catch much momentum, failing to engage those of us unfortunate enough to be watching.
Murray's co-stars (if we want to call them that) are painfully underutilized as they are forced into stereotypical roles that enter and leave the story without much explanation. Deschanel is gone by the twenty minute mark, and Hudson's entrance is as odd as they come, and that's with us ignoring her inability to settle on a single accent during her stay. Combine that with Bruce Willis' role as a gun-for-hire, and it is hard to not see each of them for what they truly are: overexposed cameos.
But the main issue with the film goes far beyond the characters as the plot never makes full sense as it ventures from the confines of Los Angeles to the dangerous streets of Kabul. Throwing caution (and believability) to the wind, Levinson bypasses the cultural significance of the story, choosing to instead focus on the comedy. In the process, he misses his opportunity to showcase non-Western life and the importance of customs and perception in the Middle East. Instead we end up with a generic storyline that involves a television singing competition and a small village that is suddenly put at the center of supposed controversy over one of its women, Salima, singing publicly.
While I'm willing to overlook the singing competition's lightning pace of going from a Top 10 to a winner in just two weeks, I cannot excuse the simplistic nature that Levinson opted for in regards to the cultural shift as a result to Salima's televised performance.
Instead of focusing in on the cultural shock that is the true pulse of the story, Levinson kept to the straight and narrow, settling for the typical "diamond in the rough" story arc that offers nothing in the form of originality. To put it lightly, Rock the Kasbah simply is not very good.
