Rock the Kasbah an acceptably uneven effort by Bill Murray and friends

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      Starring Bill Murray. Rated PG.

      A certain Clash tune is nowhere to be heard in this amiable rockfest, perhaps explaining the special K above. But “Smoke on the Water” and a whole lot of Cat Stevens tunes are on offer when a failed music maven heads to Afghanistan in search of one last score.

      Living on “development” money from hapless, would-be stars, dishevelled SoCal promoter Richie Lanz is played by Bill Murray, providing the main reason to hit this Kasbah. When he happens upon a U.S. tour heading to everybody’s favourite war zone, he hopes his latest acquisition (Zooey Deschanel) will bring him back to the bigs.

      Once in Kabul, though, she strands him without money, passport, or talent—as evidenced by his Deep Purple recitation. He then falls in with some Yanks (Scott Caan and Danny McBride) exploiting the situation. (Mitch Glazer’s script is full of digs at America’s propensity to stick its dick into every hornet’s nest it can find.) Accompanied by a sympathetic cab driver (Australian Beejan Land) and, later, a mercenary played by Bruce Willis, Richie ends up in a remote spot run by warlords.

      Despite prohibitions against women speaking, let alone singing and dancing in public, it’s the dream of village girl Salima (Palestine’s Leem Lubany, last seen in Omar) to appear on Afghan Star, the local American Idol. Under the fitful direction of Diner’s Barry Levinson, we are not to be trusted with Salima singing in Arabic or Pashto, and thus we get those Cat Stevens tunes. Then there are bizarre interludes with Kate Hudson as a hooker with a heart of Platinum Plus. And it should be mentioned that cinematographer Sean Bobbitt (12 Years a Slave) manages to make Morocco, where this was filmed, look as dark as the inside of Richie’s Van Nuys motel room.

      This acceptably uneven effort acknowledges the inspiration it took from Setara Hussainzada, the first female contestant on Afghan Star. Her tale doesn’t have as happy an ending as this one does.

       

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