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119 reviews in total

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57 out of 66 people found the following review useful:
Unable to understand vast dislike, 3 October 2004

Author: Jacob Gest (jakegest@gmail.com) from Denver, Colorado, USA

I am aware of much of the criticism this movie received. Basically that it was awful and not worth seeing. To all those who have said such words I just have to ask, what movie were you watching? In my opinion Ishtar was a wonderful movie. It's about two grown men, whose only dream is to become great musicians but are so horrible that no one will have them but the tourist industry in Morocco. All the songs that these two, Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman, sing are written by Elaine May and I found them to be simply hysterical. Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman make a great team, with humor vaguely reminiscent of Woody Allen. This is one of the only movies in which you get to see Warren act in such a way. I would defiantly recommend it to anyone despite its poor reviews.

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42 out of 52 people found the following review useful:
The Truth About Ishtar!, 8 January 1999
Author: CPetro from Florida

This is actually a brilliant comedy that utilizes the subtle jab to the funny bone rather than the thundering blow. Unfortunately, this type of humor died out sometime in the middle of the television show NEWHART's run. Why? Read The Wasteland! I don't know! Ishtar works in the same vein as Billy Wilder and Preston Sturges. No, the jokes do not come out and slap you in the face... You have to look for them to find them. Needless to say, do not rent this if you want a cathartic, mindless jolt. However, do not slam this movie just because it isn't slaptick or screwball. (Which are the only kind of comedies made anymore!) Elaine May comes from the comedy team of Nichols and May (Yes, Mike Nichols! [In fact one could argue that the comedy in The Graduate is bad for the same reasons as the comedy in Ishtar is supposedly bad.]). This duo practically perfected the witty, acerbic brand of humor which is now completely missed and misunderstood but was used masterfully in this film. In the age of Saturday Night Live and Ace Ventura, a comedy of this sort most assuredly would bomb and continue bombing. Nevertheless, if you are sick and tired of being force-fed ridiculously bad, hackneyed comedy then I suggest renting Ishtar (then buying some Nichols and May albums and watching the Bob Newhart reruns on Nick at Nite). Oh... Carter was President when I was born by the way... This is not nostalgia!

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48 out of 66 people found the following review useful:
A truly under-rated film., 30 December 1998

Author: Martin Nohe from Woodbridge, VA

I have never understood the seemingly universal disapproval of this fine film. Is it "Reds"?...No. Is it "Rain Man"?...No. Was it intended to be?...Of course not.

Ishtar is a comedy of the first measure. Start with two struggling musicians trying to make it big, who find themselves trapped in a circle of espionage and intrigue in a far away land. Include some of the funniest text ever written for the big screen. Add two of the greatest actors of our day, Dustin Hoffman and Warren Beatty, (both of whom are playing characters that could not be farther from the traditional roles that these actors have played, which was, I'm sure, a challenge in and of itself) and throw in a blind camel for good measure, and you have the recipe for a cinema classic. If this film had managed to avoid the negative press that it received early on, it would have gone done in history as one of the great comedies of the 1980's. Now, everyone wants to be on the "I hate Ishtar" bandwagon. It is truly unfortunate that this film has not received the credit that it deserves.

"Ishtar" is not the most under-rated film ever, but it may be close.

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41 out of 55 people found the following review useful:
Nothing Great, But Often Very Funny, 9 July 2004
Author: squeezebox from United States

If ISHTAR had starred Steve Martin and Chevy Chase, been directed by John Landis and shot for $10 million on a Hollywood sound stage, I think people would have enjoyed it for what it is, a sophomoric, silly road movie.

However, it stars Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman, and was directed by Elaine May, a trio of actors and filmmakers who were known for comedy classics as HEAVEN CAN WAIT, THE HEARTBREAK KID and TOOTSIE. Therefore, people expecting to see the most brilliant American comedy of all time were shocked and appalled when, instead, they got a glorified Cheech and Chong movie.

Is this fair? Yes and no. ISHTAR definitely falls flat at times. There are some curiously lifeless moments and awkward scenes that reek of last minute re-editing. The movie is far from perfect. But it is often very funny, and features two terrific, underrated performances from Beatty and Hoffman.

Watching Beatty play such a well meaning dim-wit is a real treat. And Hoffman is just as good playing an equally dense, overly self-assured jerk. Elaine May and Paul William's intentionally awful songs are hilarious as well. People who criticize the quality of the songs or Beatty and Hoffman's vocal talent are obviously missing the joke, as both are SUPPOSED to be bad.

A pre-obnoxiously conservative Charles Grodin adds plenty of laughs as a CIA agent, while Isabelle Adjani does well in a deceptively complex role, which requires her to play it totally straight while engaged in completely ludicrous scenes with Beatty and Hoffman.

Beatty and Hoffman's interaction while trapped in the desert is classic. One of the movie's funniest moments involves the wind kicking up after they have been told by Adjani that "there is no wind in the desert". Hoffman asks, "Is the wind blowing?" Beatty answers, "This must be one of those once in a lifetime things, like the glaciers melting." If you don't find that funny, you'll hate this movie.

But if dry, silly humor is your cup of tea, and you can view a movie without being overly distracted by it's star power, then you just might enjoy ISHTAR. It doesn't always work, but I found it to be pretty funny, with a fair amount of really great laughs. Considering the barrage of moronic, unfunny Hollywood comedies that have come and gone in it's wake, ISHTAR should be considered a triumph.

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28 out of 37 people found the following review useful:
my favourite movie as fun, 18 September 2004

Author: Ken DeLuca (kdeluca@sympatico.ca) from Arnprior, Ontario

I know it's not the best. Arsenic and Old Lace is the top comedy of all time. Citizen Kane the greatest film. Gone with the Wind the greatest epic.

Wizard of Oz the finest fantasy. And L.O.T.R. 1,2,3 trilogy is the ultimate film legend.

But for me, Ishtar is pure fun. I saw it when it came out. Bought the video. Watch it twice a year and have my daughter hooked on it too.

It's the Vinyl Cafe /Dave and Morley type of humour that gets me. I can't hold a tune with a forklift and I find the singing style and lyrics of Rogers and Clark inspirational.

I feel for these guys. The Warren Beatty line to Dustin Hoffman " You'd rather have nothing, than settle for less. " reminds me of my own ( self-deprecating ) personal credo, 'Lower your standards and achieve! "

These innocents are taken on a journey of discovery through Ishtar and back home to the struggle against 'lives of quiet desperation.'

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28 out of 37 people found the following review useful:
Call me crazy, but..., 13 October 1998
Author: ChakaMan from Cherry Hill, NJ

"Ishtar was great," I think defiantly every time by some off chance someone I come in contact with who has actually seen it cites it was the worst movie ever. I suppose it's part of cinematic pop culture to hold that opinion as a safeguard against being called a fool.

The most charming quality of Ishtar is its consistently dry, tongue-and-cheek disposition. It offers brilliant insight to the types of people in the world that, despite the fact that to everyone else their talent is cheesy at best, continue to try and try. Rogers and Clarke are the "Every Men" for that entire segment of the population with their songwriting musical act.

Their third-rate, leisure-suit-wearing manager does his job by getting them a few gigs; the biggest gig of all is in Ishtar, a politically unstable Middle Eastern country. Which, of course, is unbeknownst to Rogers and Clarke, who are just reveling in their love of playing music. Their naivete (and sometimes outright stupidity) is a character unto itself, and plays brilliantly throughout the ridiculous adventure that they experience.

I've seen Hoffman and Beatty in interviews joking about how they knew the movie was so bad that, instead of quitting, they simply got into the spirit by over-acting at parts. But, whether they know it or not, they were very REAL people, and THAT was the best part of all.

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27 out of 36 people found the following review useful:
Very Funny Movie, 2 March 2001

Author: (reader4)

I have no idea why "Ishtar" is often called "the worst movie ever made." It is rolling-on-the-floor, sidesplittingly hilarious! The scene towards the beginning with Hoffman and Beatty writing *really* bad songs, and the ones later in the film with a very cantankerous camel had me laughing so hard tears were coming out of my eyes. I saw the movie at the recommendation of a friend, without having heard any of the media hype, so I wasn't biased against it. I can't understand why the critics bandwagoned against it so heavily. They must have absolutely no sense of humor. Maybe they were expecting another "Reds" or "Little Big Man" or something, instead of a higher-class "Spies Like Us."

Everyone I know thinks "Ishtar" is a very funny movie. Even my mom liked it!

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23 out of 29 people found the following review useful:
Often misunderstood and truly funny..., 18 October 2004
Author: jantoniou from California

I am just old enough to remember the two movies of the same approximate era (1980s, anyway) that became synonymous with big-budget box office bombs: "Ishtar" and "Heaven's Gate."

At the time, "Ishtar" was considered so bad as to be unwatchable. It was skewered and vilified so strongly that the critics rapidly drove it out of the theaters. Few--including me--ever had the nerve to rent the movie.

It wasn't until roughly 10 years after its release that my in-laws introduced me to the comedic greatness that is "Ishtar." To this day when I tell friends and family that I love Ishtar, it is somewhat like saying, enthusiastically, "Hey, I just contracted leprosy!" Such is the stigma that still lingers with this film.

To the credit of critics, this is by no means a work of pure comedic genius.

The movie has essentially one theme that works--the effortless cluelessness of Lyle and Chuck as the world's worst songwriters--and this is exhausted almost completely within the first 30 minutes. Still, it is a totally knee-slapping hilarious 30 minutes. The meandering remaining plot that takes them to Morocco for a singing gig and leads them to become CIA "agents" is what cemented the bad taste in the mouth of critics for time immemorial. This theme by the end of the movie is rather re-treaded and worn-out. We kind of want Warren and Dustin to just shut up by then.

This second act suffers from a kind of Hope-Crosby wannabee syndrome, and the writing isn't up to the slapstick pedigree the movie had begun revealing quite hilariously in the first act. Considering this film came from the pen of Elaine May--of "Nichols and May" comedy duet fame--I would have expected more, but perhaps this movie spiraled out of her hands because of the oft-misunderstood first act. I could easily see studio test audiences handily rejecting it and thus twisting the movie's priorities out of whack.

Still, "Ishtar" shouldn't be brushed aside as a mere footnote in movie history. It is worth watching for its true hilarity and the performances of both Hoffman and Beatty.

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21 out of 29 people found the following review useful:
Its bad rep is undeserved, 7 February 2000

Author: krumski from Cincinnati, Ohio

For the most part, films that bomb badly usually deserve to, but Ishtar is a curious exception. For the life of me, I cannot understand the critical drubbing it took upon its initial release. Admittedly, it did go way over budget, and none of that opulence is visible on screen (the film has a murky and washed out look to it, and its sets and locales are not particularly impressive) but this is a comedy after all, and so lives or dies based on the quality of its jokes and situations, not its production design. And on that level Ishtar not only gets by but succeeds wonderfully.

Beatty and Hoffman play two dim bulbs who fancy themselves songwriters and pair up in an attempt to become the next Simon and Garfunkel. The tortured lyrics these guys come up with must be heard to be believed, and the scenes showing them working on their songs or presenting their act to audiences are some of the most screamingly funny ever committed to film. If for no other reason than to see these scenes, you should rent the movie.

Perhaps the film might have been funnier (and better accepted by critics) if it had focused exclusively on the show business dreams of its stars. However, early on the two get a booking to play an extended gig in Morocco (that alone should tell you how bad they are); they get waylaid in the fictional Middle Eastern country of Ishtar where they become inadvertently roped into a shady CIA dominated plot having something to do with rebellions, arm shipments and military coups. It's all rather hokey and confusing - but deliberately so, in the best screwball sense. And through it all Hoffman and Beatty truly shine: the bafflement on their faces and in their gestures as they are shepherded from place to place as dupes in a plot they don't understand is just priceless. Who would have thought that two such intelligent actors could play stupid so convincingly (either one of them, for example, would have made a preferable sidekick to Jim Carrey than Jeff Daniels was in Dumb and Dumber - his performance showed all the strain of a bright guy trying to force himself into a pose of ineptitude). Even more, who would have imagined that two such prima donnas could put their egos aside to work off each other so well and become a truly great comedy TEAM? No matter how crazy the plot may get, Hoffman and Beatty are never less than a delight as they hold down the center of the film.

Oh yeah, and if that weren't enough, there's also the treat of the wonderfully droll and deadpan Charles Grodin as the CIA operative in Ishtar. He's the villain of the piece, but his beautifully underplayed exasperation at the exploits of the two stars makes you like him almost as much as you do them.

So what are you waiting for? If you like a good, well done comedy with sharp performances and a kooky atmosphere, check out Ishtar today. Don't allow all those sourpuss, stone-faced critics to ruin your fun.

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17 out of 27 people found the following review useful:
I Really Enjoy This Lambasted Movie, 5 October 2000

Author: snelling from Western NY

Despite what was spent on this film and the awful reviews that followed (the latter based solely on the former), I really enjoyed this movie. The story of Rogers and Clarke, two would-be songwriters a la Simon and Garfunkel is genuinely funny and worth repeated viewings just to catch all the gags and the intentionally awful lyrics. Paul Williams wrote the songs with the help of director Elaine May and they provide hilarity throughout the film.

According to Leonard Maltin, the movie is structured like a Hope-Crosby outing with "shades of 'Road to Morocco'." I have never seen a film in the 'Road to...' series so I have to take Maltin's word for it.

Beatty and Hoffman play songwriters who meet one day and find they have the same dream. They both have tunes in their heads that distract them from their lives, their girlfriends and their jobs to such a degree that they pursue a songwriting career together. The trouble is that their songs are so bad, the lyrics so painful, that their agent (the late Jack Weston) can only get them booked in Morocco, bordering the fictional country of Ishtar.

The story opens with a sampling of songs written by Lyle Rogers (Beatty) and Chuck Clarke (Hoffman). They range from the hysterical ("She said, 'Come look, there's a wardrobe of love in my eyes/Take your time, look around, maybe see something your size.") to the insane ("If you admit that you can play the accordion/No one will hire you in a rock and roll band."). In flashbacks we see how they meet and the events leading up to their professional partnership. It must have been May who, in an inspired move, cast Hoffman as the ladies' man and Beatty as the dense Southern hick. That Hollywood joke will last long after they're gone.

Once in Morocco, they unwittingly become pawns in an overthrow of Ishtar; Lyle for, Chuck against. Or is it the other way around? Anyway, the story turns away from the songwriting plot and concentrates on blind camels, dopey CIA agents and Sheira Aselle, a left-wing beauty played by Isabelle Adjani. She recruits Chuck and Lyle to find her dead brother's map, and winds up having feelings for them both. Meanwhile, Jim Harrison, a CIA man played by Charles Grodin, convinces Chuck that Lyle is a clever Communist and pays Chuck for everything Lyle says. This eventually leads them out into the desert, hopelessly lost and dying of thirst. When things look their worst under the burning hot sun, Lyle turns to Chuck and says, "My lips are on fire." To which Chuck replies, "With my desire!" Nothing keeps these two from possibly writing the next hit song. Therein lies the true surprise of this movie. It never goes in the direction you would think. There are constant left turns with riotous results.

After an attempt to get some drinking water from a band of desert gunrunners (there is a hilarious scene with Hoffman pretending to speak several North African dialects as an arms auctioneer), the film ends with a shoot-out between our heroes and the CIA hit men who want these two 'messengers of God' out of the picture. With the help of Sheira and Abdul (their guide and hash connection) they overpower their pursuers and yell out, "F*** you twice!" for good measure.

What the film may be telling us is that keeping a song in your heart at all times is a sure way to escape your troubles. No matter how bad things get, if you pursue your dream it will happen for you. In order to get their first live album produced, Rogers and Clarke make a deal with Jim Harrison concerning social reforms in Ishtar and the blessed map. The way these two sing, this seems to be the only way it could ever be produced.

Although 'Ishtar' is more of a comedy than a musical, I felt it paid homage to a type of filmmaking that is not seen anymore. Even if the songs will never become standards, they are rather memorable in a demented sort of way (according to the end credits, the soundtrack is available). At least the songs fit into the story of the lives of these two guys. The songs from a movie like 'Down Argentine Way' were nothing more than musical interludes. I think the film succeeds on the levels of both parody and originality. It is definitely worth a look.

Aside: Does anyone have the soundtrack to this film. I would like to know how to get a copy. Please e-mail me at if you can help.

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