Albert Brooks's "Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World" -- uh

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Erm. At least it's not this.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 02:13 (twenty years ago)

yeah, I dunno how successful it'll be, but it looks like a well-intentioned effort

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 02:16 (twenty years ago)

i'm seeing this tomorrow morning

― s1ocki (slutsky), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 02:20 (twenty years ago)

i can't wait! i heart albert.

― scott seward (scott seward), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 02:27 (twenty years ago)

I know nothing about this, BUT:

My friend in Washington D.C. attended an early screening or premier screening, or whatever the hell it is, because of some sort of inside connection. And he sat directly behind none other than JOHN KERRY! I have nothing else to report.

― Mickey (modestmickey), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 02:30 (twenty years ago)

"brillo-haired"?? gee, way to promote cross-cultural understanding.

― 2 columbus circle in 1964 (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 02:34 (twenty years ago)

I found it typical of liberals like him. Always taking the War on Terror as nothing but a big joke.

― Mickey (modestmickey), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 02:37 (twenty years ago)

I wish the article would give at least an inkling of what the film is actually like.

― Abbadavid Berman (Hurting), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 02:39 (twenty years ago)

America's relationship to "the Muslim World" = "the War on Terror"?

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 02:39 (twenty years ago)

"liberals like him"???

That WaPo piece leads me to believe that Fred Dalton Thompson is probably a cooler guy than one might think.

― phil d. (Phil D.), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 02:41 (twenty years ago)

I found it typical of liberals like him. Always taking the War on Terror as nothing but a big joke.

-- Mickey (mi...), January 10th, 2006.

Pull the stick out of your ass you fucking coward.

― Abbadavid Berman (Hurting), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 02:47 (twenty years ago)

that picture in the paper from the movie of him with a dummy wearing a turban doing a stand-up act in India was all i needed to know about the movie. i'm there! that's the other thing about the movie, it all takes place in India & Pakistan. cuz they didn't want him in any arab countries.

― scott seward (scott seward), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 02:51 (twenty years ago)

...erm, if you read the link I put in, this is not as surprising as all that. ;-)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 02:57 (twenty years ago)

cuz they didn't want him in any arab countries.

i think it was the other way around.

― 2 columbus circle in 1964 (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 02:57 (twenty years ago)

Ned Raggett, yeah, I just clicked it on it and noticed that. Hah, when he first told it to me I swore he was lying. I can't believe he didn't take the opportunity to say anything to him at all. I would have at least said "hi."

― Mickey (modestmickey), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 03:00 (twenty years ago)

cuz they didn't want him in any arab countries.

I initially read that as 'crab countries.'

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 03:21 (twenty years ago)

"i think it was the other way around."

see, i already forget what i read in the NYT. i thought they tried to do it in middle east countries, but it was no go.

― scott seward (scott seward), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 03:34 (twenty years ago)

maybe i was misunderstanding who the "they" were in that sentence.

― 2 columbus circle in 1964 (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 03:43 (twenty years ago)

i saw a news story on this a while back about how the film's distributor dropped it because of the title. i'm glad it's getting released now!

― tres letraj (tehresa), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 03:44 (twenty years ago)

haha albert brooks is tonight's daily show guest

― 2 columbus circle in 1964 (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 04:01 (twenty years ago)

i came here to post that! i do love albert so.

― scott seward (scott seward), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 04:02 (twenty years ago)

http://actionfiguresbygofigure.com/media/hankscorpio.jpg

― 2 columbus circle in 1964 (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 04:10 (twenty years ago)

That was a pretty entertaining Daily Show guest

― Mickey (modestmickey), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 04:34 (twenty years ago)

Brooks was on Letterman last night, and to be honest, it didn't seem very funny.

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 04:35 (twenty years ago)

Uh, sorry about that post Mickey, I'm a bit half asleep and for a second I thought you were some conservative troll.

― Abbadavid Berman (Hurting), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 04:36 (twenty years ago)

haha was albert brooks hank scorpio?? that explains so much

― cancer prone fat guy (dubplatestyle), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 04:39 (twenty years ago)

I saw the trailer. It looks like unwatchable shite.

― adamrl (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 04:40 (twenty years ago)

did you move back to england?

― cancer prone fat guy (dubplatestyle), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 04:41 (twenty years ago)

In my head, maybe.

― adamrl (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 04:41 (twenty years ago)

knock off that shite shit then

― cancer prone fat guy (dubplatestyle), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 04:43 (twenty years ago)

or i'm calling INS

― cancer prone fat guy (dubplatestyle), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 04:43 (twenty years ago)

"shite shit"!

― adamrl (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 04:44 (twenty years ago)

POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING POING

― cancer prone fat guy (dubplatestyle), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 04:45 (twenty years ago)

YSI?

― adamrl (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 04:46 (twenty years ago)

i don't have anything to say about albert brooks, but i hope that if i ever move to london, i never ever start saying the word "shite."

― hstencil (hstencil), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 04:46 (twenty years ago)

i think i have it on my work computer actually. i will YSI tomorrow.

― cancer prone fat guy (dubplatestyle), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 04:46 (twenty years ago)

on my proposed thread "does a noize dude like gabba?"

― cancer prone fat guy (dubplatestyle), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 04:47 (twenty years ago)

"gobshite" can stay

― 2 columbus circle in 1964 (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 04:47 (twenty years ago)

Hurting, no hard feelings!

― Mickey (modestmickey), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 04:48 (twenty years ago)

i hope that if i ever move to london, i never ever start saying the word "shite."

Something you're not telling us? Don't worry, people would respect you more if you stuck to your own native vernacular.

― adamrl (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 04:53 (twenty years ago)

just a very rare possibility, for the future, no plans.

― hstencil (hstencil), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 04:53 (twenty years ago)

I expect to hear you on the next Streets album.

― adamrl (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 04:55 (twenty years ago)

Hurting, no hard feelings!

-- Mickey (mi...), January 10th, 2006.

I also just really wanted to call someone conservative a coward. Stop living in fear, cowards!

― Abbadavid Berman (Hurting), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 04:55 (twenty years ago)

a problem for anthony blair

― cancer prone fat guy (dubplatestyle), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 04:56 (twenty years ago)

only if it's a recording of me pissing on and then burning all of his other records, dude.

xpost way to ruin the banter, cowards.

― hstencil (hstencil), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 04:56 (twenty years ago)

only if it's a recording of me pissing on and then burning all of his other records, dude.

Didn't John Cage already do something like this?

― adamrl (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 04:57 (twenty years ago)

haha! jess

― adamrl (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 04:57 (twenty years ago)

close, but no pissing.

― hstencil (hstencil), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 04:58 (twenty years ago)

Ach, why kid us? You're moving to London and you're going to become a cor-blimey chimneysweep and make grime records called "shite bollox oy luvaduck" and shoot a lot of foxes.

― adamrl (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 05:00 (twenty years ago)

Maybe you'll start posting like bob zemko (I know, you don't even know who that is).

― adamrl (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 05:01 (twenty years ago)

Skipping 16 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

Azhar Usman

― Heave Ho, Wednesday, 11 January 2006 10:32 (twenty years ago)

jesus the preview trailer for this movie was fucking excruciating. but then I've never dug Albert Brooks so take it w/a grain.

― m coleman (lovebug starski), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 11:30 (twenty years ago)

yer mad!

that leelee movie was the pits. worst title in 50 years.

― scott seward (scott seward), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 11:48 (twenty years ago)

actually, i know lots of people find him annoying or whatever. i think he is a supergeeeeeenius (even if most of his geeenius is behind him). he is the only real life albert einstein that i worship.

― scott seward (scott seward), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 13:04 (twenty years ago)

Wouldn't it make more sense for a muslim to identify the humor in the muslim world, since, you know, they live in it

That would kinda limit the US mersh potential, no?
The trailer made me laugh at least twice.

Not that, at his age, AB is likely to approach the level of his masterpiece Lost in America.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 14:16 (twenty years ago)

or real life. or modern romance.

― scott seward (scott seward), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 14:27 (twenty years ago)

Or Defending Your Life.

― phil d. (Phil D.), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 14:33 (twenty years ago)

or those amazing comedy albums he did. or his snl short films.

― scott seward (scott seward), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 14:41 (twenty years ago)

The trailer didn't seem very funny - but then I've never been a big Brooks fan either (though I haven't seen his earlier stuff).

― o. nate (onate), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 15:57 (twenty years ago)

All his films have their moments (Mother and Modern Romance moreso than, umm, The Muse) but Lost in America could be the sharpest study of Boomer Yuppie Panic ever. "Say it! Say it! Say 'I lost the nest-egg.' Go on, say it!"

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 16:16 (twenty years ago)

i like brooks w/o loving him, altho yeah lost in america in particular is great. i don't have high hopes for this movie, but i think it's sort of cool that he made it. better to light a candle etc.

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 16:18 (twenty years ago)

I've added Lost in America to my Netflix queue.

― o. nate (onate), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 16:36 (twenty years ago)

shite

― adamrl (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 16:37 (twenty years ago)

this was not funny, really, at all.

― s1ocki (slutsky), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 17:40 (twenty years ago)

shite?

― adamrl (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 17:41 (twenty years ago)

also, it was pretty pointless. i don't understand why dude made this movie. he should have just made a documentary, maybe then he'd actually have tried to, you know, look for comedy in the muslim world.

― s1ocki (slutsky), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 17:41 (twenty years ago)

On the Upper West Side, "Are you a Jew?" "Not ... this minute" is killing.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 17:42 (twenty years ago)

it was kind of maddeningly... solipsistic, if that makes sense.

― s1ocki (slutsky), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 17:44 (twenty years ago)

Of course it makes sense!

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 17:44 (twenty years ago)

i always like the idea of his movies more than their actual execution, but there are great scenes scattered across Lost In America, Modern Romance, Real Life and Defending Your Life. Interesting that he owns the rights to his SNL shorts, perhaps further precluding the series' release on dvd.

― i am not a nugget (stevie), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 17:55 (twenty years ago)

actually, i know lots of people find him annoying or whatever. i think he is a supergeeeeeenius

i agree! it's hard to say why i find him so funny... but it's more in his personality (his albert brooksness) than his jokes. he's like gabe kaplan that way.

― 2 columbus circle in 1964 (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 17:58 (twenty years ago)

i never really care whether his movies are creatively successful, because i just like the idea of watching albert brooks on screen for two hours. so whether "looking for comedy" is "good" seems beside the point to me.

― 2 columbus circle in 1964 (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 17:59 (twenty years ago)

Was he good in The Muse? I know the movie must have sucked because it had Sharon Stone AND Andie MacDowell in it, but was he good?

― Zwan (miccio), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 18:00 (twenty years ago)

He did him. Sharon Stone was fine, but he didn't have a 90-minute idea.

"Maddeningly solipsistic" is the essence of the AB persona, but that doesn't work if the film is.

I caught one of the SNLs around 4am a couple months ago, where he performs heart surgery on an old man after taking a crash course; just before he cuts in, the patient moans "I pray it doesn't hurt." Hysterical.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 18:02 (twenty years ago)

his timing is insane. that part in mother when they are on the phone:

mother: i love you, dear

albert: i know..you think you do.

― scott seward (scott seward), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 18:07 (twenty years ago)

i wish i had a copy of broadcast news lying around the house.

― scott seward (scott seward), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 18:11 (twenty years ago)

I have had approximations of the Mother "cheese in the freezer" debate with my mom for decades.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 18:13 (twenty years ago)

i agree that he is very... relaxing to watch, for some reason. it's that voice.

― s1ocki (slutsky), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 19:47 (twenty years ago)

this movie is still no good.

― s1ocki (slutsky), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 19:56 (twenty years ago)

no mention of his recent Simpsons appearance? In a typically wacky episode that was still quite a bit better then most recent crappy episodes, he played motivational guy who ran a lose weight clinic. He was really funny. I almost wonder if he contributed jokes because the humor in that episode was very unlike the Simpsons at times. "don't talk, it'll ruin the drama." "THE DRAMA!"

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 20:01 (twenty years ago)

OMG, this looks so so awful AND mildly offensive!

― Abbadavid Berman (Hurting), Thursday, 12 January 2006 16:43 (twenty years ago)

I gotta say, the very IDEA of this movie is a non-starter, I don't care who's behind it. Speaking frankly, you have to be really *really* good to pull off a project that, especially these days, smacks of a patronizing sentiment regardless of how much it's supposed to be a reflexive critique of American attitudes.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 12 January 2006 16:47 (twenty years ago)

i'm not fond of the title, but the premise is intriguing -- in the right hands i could see this being good and non-offensive. that brooks himself is so seemingly non-offensive probably works in the movie's favor.

― jbr, Thursday, 12 January 2006 17:09 (twenty years ago)

I'm all for comedian-satirists (as opposed to Larry the Cable Guy) staking out potentially offensive geopolitical ground.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 12 January 2006 17:13 (twenty years ago)

Uh-DUH, ya dipshit. However, nothing about this movie in terms of how it's described sounds like anything else than a solipsistic 'gawrsh it's funny how we react when all sorts of wacky things over there in not-America impacts our lives here; America is so self-obsessed!' boof. Yeah, thanks for the insight.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 12 January 2006 17:18 (twenty years ago)

everything s1ocki has written is basically what i gathered from the preview. it looks awful

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Thursday, 12 January 2006 18:14 (twenty years ago)

Ned, chill; people I trust tell me you're a nice guy... I'm not suggesting that Brooks hasn't failed. Whose perspective is Brooks supposed to make it from? Oliver Stone's would be a lot more solipsistic, but be made on enough mushrooms that he'd be convinced it was from the Muslim perspective.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 12 January 2006 18:19 (twenty years ago)

smacks of a patronizing sentiment regardless of how much it's supposed to be a reflexive critique of American attitudes.

yeah, i felt this from the preview too. it's designed to be self-critical, but what comes across even stronger is a narcissism and a none-too-strong interest in the islamic world (heh, it's not even the islamic world, it's INDIA--which is like hanging out in japan to see how the chinese are coming along).

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Thursday, 12 January 2006 18:20 (twenty years ago)

the jewish jokes seem waaaay more uncomfortable than funny in this context. maybe that's the point?

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Thursday, 12 January 2006 18:21 (twenty years ago)

i guess i have to actually see this now.

i really wish they gave it a different title.

as it is, it sounds like a bad salon essay. or a new york times magazine cover story.

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Thursday, 12 January 2006 18:21 (twenty years ago)

there are 150 million muslims in india, as the movie points out.

but... i still don't get this movie. i guess the joke is supposed to be that he does a really bad job of looking for comedy in the muslim world. or something.

― s1ocki (slutsky), Thursday, 12 January 2006 18:34 (twenty years ago)

don't see this movie amateurist.

― s1ocki (slutsky), Thursday, 12 January 2006 18:34 (twenty years ago)

heh, it's not even the islamic world, it's INDIA

Like what slocki said:

http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/01/08/features/brooks.php

"There's that scene where they call me to Washington and they explain that Pakistan is all Muslim and I say, 'But I thought India was primarily Hindu.' Somebody at the table says, 'There's almost 150 million Muslims in India alone,' and Fred Thompson says, 'Is that enough for you?' They went crazy! I thought, I passed the test, it's O.K.! The sheik is laughing; he's talking to the guy next to him in Arabic and pointing at the screen. And no one walked out!"

Some of the Arab press, Brooks said, questioned his decision to set the film in India and Pakistan rather than an Arab country. "I said, 'Well, if you can get me permission to shoot in Saudi Arabia, let me know,"' he said, "because it was not happening when I was making calls. That was shut down within five minutes, with 'What, are you insane?' They're not going to let a Jewish man, much less a filmmaker, in there. That's just not going to happen. But I wanted the conflict between the two countries. I knew in writing this that I wanted to take two existing powers that are always suspicious of each other, and that was the one place you could do that. The idea was always that I go to do a peace mission, and I almost start World War III."

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 12 January 2006 18:37 (twenty years ago)

there are 150 million muslims in india, as the movie points out.

i knew this, but somehow i heard "india" and didn't think "muslims." i guess this is the sort of behavior the movie wants to correct/point out.

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Thursday, 12 January 2006 19:07 (twenty years ago)

Amateurist, you automatically think "Hindu"?

― GET EQUIPPED WITH BUBBLE LEAD (ex machina), Thursday, 12 January 2006 19:15 (twenty years ago)

i automatically think "vindaloo"

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Thursday, 12 January 2006 19:18 (twenty years ago)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_India

130 million Muslims vs. 900 million Hindus

― GET EQUIPPED WITH BUBBLE LEAD (ex machina), Thursday, 12 January 2006 19:27 (twenty years ago)

Anyone else notice that the whole thing seems to be an excuse for Brooks to fall in love with a younger Indian woman?

― Abbadavid Berman (Hurting), Thursday, 12 January 2006 22:40 (twenty years ago)

he's finally turning into Henry Jaglom, then?

the people who are reacting viscerally to the concept of this movie seem to have a very different idea of what the concept is from me.

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Thursday, 12 January 2006 22:47 (twenty years ago)

Anyone else notice that the whole thing seems to be an excuse for Brooks to fall in love with a younger Indian woman?

s1ocki, tell us: is this where the movie actually goes? or is the trailer misleading?

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Friday, 13 January 2006 00:22 (twenty years ago)

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