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| Emily Blunt and Ewan McGregor in a Yemen scene. |
I'll admit the title is a turn off; it sounds more like a fishing guide than entertainment. But
Salmon Fishing in the Yemen (based on a novel of the same title) was a slow-paced and subtly funny charmer. There's an underdog to root for, a government to hate, people to fear, a loss to cry over, a cause to hope for, and even a wee bit of romance.
Ewan McGregor plays Fred, an straight-laced government worker who specializes in fisheries. He and his boss (who has really bad hair) have a mutual disrespect for each other, so Fred gets assigned to this odd-ball, long-shot project of transporting salmon to a river in Yemen, and ensuring the right environment for the fish to survive.
Enter Emily Blunt who plays Harriet. She's an assistant/project manager for a very wealthy Sheikh (he doesn't blink at spending $55 million on this project), and she's the smart as a whip, light-hearted foil to Fred's stuffy practicality.
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| Amr Waked and Ewan McGregor in a Scotland scene. |
Sheikh Muhammad (Amr Waked) wants to bring Salmon to the Yemen because 1) he loves fly fishing, and 2) he believes the river and commodity of fish will greatly benefit his people. The British government, as represented by hard-nosed and hilarious press secretary Patricia Maxwell (Kristen Scott Thomas), are backing the project because they want a "positive story" from the Middle East. But it's up to Fred and Harriet to get along and attempt to make the project that works in theory to work in reality.
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| Kristin Scott Thomas, the butler, and Amr Waked in a Scotland scene. |
The acting is top-notch, the script is excellent and charming, the character arcs are strong and believable, and it's visually appealing. (There's even a little gun-play if you can't stand seeing a movie without it.) I highly recommend it. Its theater run is all but over, so see it immediately, or have the delicious anticipation of waiting for it on DVD.
Also, who doesn't want to see Ewan McGregor in tweeds? Don't miss
that opportunity.
I'd say this was an above average film but not awesome. I guess I found the spirituality and visual symbolism a little over top, and kind of cheap for a movie that was otherwise really well done. Definitely agree about the acting on everyone except the sheikh, but I'm cutting him some slack because I think he was given a pretty one-dimensional character to play.
ReplyDeleteTrue, some of the "hope" and "faith" parts were a little cheesy, but I can't really think of a film where those types of themes don't carry some cheese.
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