A down-on-his-luck music manager discovers a teenage girl with an extraordinary voice while on a music tour in Afghanistan and takes her to Kabul to compete on the popular television show, Afghan Star.
Richie Lanz (Bill Murray), a has-been rock manager takes his last remaining client on a USO tour of Afghanistan. When Richie finds himself in Kabul, abandoned, penniless and without his U.S. passport, he discovers a young Afghan girl named Salima with an extraordinary voice and manages her through Afghanistan's version of American Idol..
Second movie starring Zooey Deschanel and Kate Hudson involving music, after Almost Famous (2000). See more »
Goofs
When Richie (Bill Murray) and Bombay Brian (Bruce Willis) go to the desert to do deliver the weapons/ammo and collect the money, one of the tribal elders tells them that they are being forced to grow poppy. However, Paktya province is virtually poppy-free, as the altitude is too high for that crop. On the other hand, it is common to find huge fields of marijuana plants. See more »
Quotes
[first lines]
Maureen:
[having just finished singing her audition]
Mr. Lanz? I'm done.
Richie Lanz:
[long pause]
No.
[sighs]
Richie Lanz:
Forgive me. No. You're just beginning.
Maureen:
You liked it?
Richie Lanz:
Liked it? You made me want to swallow poison. And forget pitch, rhythm and tone... and emotional attachment to the lyric or the melody.
Maureen:
I'm sorry. I don't think I...
Richie Lanz:
A grain of sand slips into an oyster... and irritates the bivalve. What happens?
Maureen:
A pearl.
[...] See more »
Crazy Credits
Just after the closing credits begin, there is an inset scene running alongside. In it, Bill Murray haggles with a vendor who offers him colored string. The vendor speaks no English, while Murray carries on his side of the negotiation in English only. Murray rejects the string, saying "Do I look like a guy who uses string?", but he wants to buy a stuffed elephant with mirrors on it because early in the movie he promised to buy his daughter that exact item. In the end he also buys the colored string. See more »
I generally think of Bill Murray movies as comedies aimed toward the pubescent-thinking male, so I'll grant that my opting to see "Rock The Kasbah" (2015) was due to the plot being centered around a music industry manager--I'm a musician myself--and the fact that Zooey, Kate, and Bruce were also starring in the film. I was very pleasantly surprised to find that a much deeper message was being delivered than what I'd expected and I'm really happy I decided to check this movie out.
There's definitely a message being delivered here that goes deeper than making a 13-year-old laugh and it's one I hope others will have an open-enough-mind to take in and appreciate. I watched this with a friend whose comments throughout caused me to realize the prejudice with which your average "Joe Citizen" might view this film. I, myself, am humbled after finding (once again) that I've been less open-minded in my own thinking and more judgmental of others than I'd like to believe. So, before anyone starts throwing around any words or slams like "unpatriotic" or whatever, I urge you to stop and think about why you might have any preconceived hatred of others who you most likely know nothing about. Think about how those thought might've gotten in your head. Think about who it is that might've caused such thoughts to exist in your head and--this one's really important--what THEY might have to gain by having you think in such a manner.
I now have a new-and-improved view of what to expect from "a Bill Murray movie" and a new appreciation for the man himself, realizing he goes deeper than one might think. Plus I like his viewpoint.
I highly recommend this flick, but before viewing I also highly recommend that you take a few moments to ground yourself, open up your mind (after emptying it of any thoughts or prejudices you might be predisposed to thinking), sit back, and enjoy.
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I generally think of Bill Murray movies as comedies aimed toward the pubescent-thinking male, so I'll grant that my opting to see "Rock The Kasbah" (2015) was due to the plot being centered around a music industry manager--I'm a musician myself--and the fact that Zooey, Kate, and Bruce were also starring in the film. I was very pleasantly surprised to find that a much deeper message was being delivered than what I'd expected and I'm really happy I decided to check this movie out.
There's definitely a message being delivered here that goes deeper than making a 13-year-old laugh and it's one I hope others will have an open-enough-mind to take in and appreciate. I watched this with a friend whose comments throughout caused me to realize the prejudice with which your average "Joe Citizen" might view this film. I, myself, am humbled after finding (once again) that I've been less open-minded in my own thinking and more judgmental of others than I'd like to believe. So, before anyone starts throwing around any words or slams like "unpatriotic" or whatever, I urge you to stop and think about why you might have any preconceived hatred of others who you most likely know nothing about. Think about how those thought might've gotten in your head. Think about who it is that might've caused such thoughts to exist in your head and--this one's really important--what THEY might have to gain by having you think in such a manner.
I now have a new-and-improved view of what to expect from "a Bill Murray movie" and a new appreciation for the man himself, realizing he goes deeper than one might think. Plus I like his viewpoint.
I highly recommend this flick, but before viewing I also highly recommend that you take a few moments to ground yourself, open up your mind (after emptying it of any thoughts or prejudices you might be predisposed to thinking), sit back, and enjoy.