Ishtar: Oh yes. That’s right. I gave “Ishtar 3 stars”. Why? Because it’s not nearly as bad we have been led to believe. Sure, it’s a cautionary tale for movie studios about how not to produce a film (three egomaniacs ripping the thing apart and blowing up the budget)? But unwatchable? Not hardly. If this movie had been released today straight to DVD, it would probably do very well. Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman star as two idiotic jingle writers with minimal talent and a catalog of wildly mediocre-to-downright-bad original songs that land a singing gig in Morocco. Then, in true bumbling fashion, they find themselves recruited by both the CIA as well as rebels in north Africa. Sure, the film has its flaws: not all the jokes land, Hoffman‘s wardrobe is ATROCIOUS (who told him that headbands should be worn constantly); but once you realize that the musical numbers are intentionally bad and the singing intentionally crappy, it makes it a lot easier to take and enjoy. Indeed, you may even laugh. Beatty is great as the dimmer of the two singers, playing against type. There are some funny set pieces, particularly when the singers are being shadowed by poorly disguised operatives from at least 4 different countries. Woodchuck sez, “Not bad. Really.”
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