List Price: $19.98You Pay Only: $17.99 You Save: $1.99 (10%)Prices subject to change.
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Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Binding: DVD
Brand: Warner Brothers
EAN: 0012569402829
Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Label: Warner Home Video
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Warner Home Video
Region Code: 1
Release Date: August 29, 2006
Running Time: 98 minutes
Sales Rank: 24922
Studio: Warner Home Video
Theatrical Release Date: 2005
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Editorial Review:
Description:
'Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World' is the hilarious story of what happens when the U.S. Government sends comedian Albert Brooks to India and Pakistan to find out what makes the over 300 million Muslims in the region laugh. Brooks, accompanied by two state department handlers and his trusted assistant, goes on a journey that takes him from a concert stage in New Delhi, to the Taj Mahal, to a secret location in the mountains of Pakistan. Written and directed by Albert Brooks, 'Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World' is a funny and insightful look at some of the issues we are dealing with in a post-9/11 world. The comedy also stars Sheetal Sheth, John Carroll Lynch, Jon Tenney, and Fred Dalton Thompson.
Amazon.com:
You don't have to be an Albert Brooks fan to enjoy Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World, but it helps. As always, Brooks (as writer, director, and star) presents a timely comedic premise that's ripe with possibilities, and he capitalizes on his ideas with witty one-liners, hilarious expressions, and comedic situations that are patently absurd and yet, in Brooks' hands, amusingly believable. At a time of great fear and turmoil in the Middle East, Brooks plays a barely-fictional version of himself (a respected comedian named Albert Brooks) and dares to ask, 'what's considered funny in the world of Islam?' That's what the State Department wants to know (in the President's effort to improve U.S.-Muslim relations), so they dispatch Brooks to India and Pakistan to write a 500-page report on what makes Muslims laugh. That he never really finds an answer is beside the point, because Looking for Comedy is more about the nature of comedy itself--specifically, the nature of Albert Brooks' comedy, which is self-deprecating, low-key, and so idiosyncratic that it defies mainstream expectations. After a brilliant opening, Looking for Comedy loses some of its momentum, but it's filled with brilliant bits and throwaway gags that keep you smiling from start to finish. One can only wonder, how will it play in Baghdad? --Jeff Shannon
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Alber Brooks in a mellow key
Albert Brooks is one of my favorites. But "Looking for Comedy..." is one of his more mellow films; he doesn't go for big laughs this time, even though there's plenty of humor. This is a good one for the serious Albert Brooks fan, but for everyone else, it's worth it to watch at least once.
Rating:  - If you Like Albert Brooks, you'll like this film
There are some baseline criteria for liking this film (note: this also applies to Woody Allen cinema).
1) You must like Albert Brooks' nebishness (corollary: you should understand a bit about Jewish fatalism)
2) You must understand and appreciate sarcasm at its finest
3) You must not be offended by vanity scripts-- yes, alot of this is about Albert Brooks, see item #1
4) You must not be embarrassed by laughing out loud when your intellect is tickled
I would have given this a higher rating, but not everyone can meet the above criteria
Rating:  - Really forgettable and unlikable
Well first I have to say I'am an Albert Brooks fan for the most part but this movie just had DUD written all over it. The plot about a famous comedian...alleged famous comedian since the running gag of the movie seems to be that nobody knows about him much less cares tells you right of the bat that this is far from a "thinking man's" comedy as somebody else said. Age didn't matter either in me disliking (I'am over the teenybopper age a long, long time ago).
First the film drags on and on with unfunny jokes. Why would the government trying to soften relations with Middle East send Albert Brooks why not Jay Leno or Conan O'Brien, oh well. Like somebody else the stereotypical jokes (like the Call Center well all the technical computer questions in American are received by Outsourced Pakistans) gets old quick.
Even this side story (which I guess was supposed to be romantic) with Albert and his assistant Maya I think her name is wasn't really explored though hinted at many times (like her boyfriend is really jealous at her spending so much time with Albert). The jokes Albert throws at this Muslim/Pakistan are lame, very lame. Besides the character he plays looks utterly desperate in just compiling an audience to begin with. I guess this was supposed to be funny how an alleged famous comedian can't even get enough seats to fill a gymnasium but it just wasn't funny. Deadpan humor/Dry humor whatever you want to call it isn't always funny and this movie is living proof of that.
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Rating: - "Looking for laughs" would be more apt
From the title and cover description, I thought Brooks was "looking for comedians." You know...we would see what was considered comedy in the Muslim world, performed by Muslims. Instead we get Albert Brooks doing a very low key (dare I say tired and lame?) comedy act and watching how Muslims respond. It's a 30 minute premise at best, but vintage Albert Brooks. If you have liked his previous work you will probably like this. I did get a couple of laughs. If you haven't...skip it. Unless, like me, you're getting it free from the library.
Rating: - Looking for comedy...
this film should have been called, Looking for Comedy.
I wasnt familiar with Brooks' work before watching this, and now that I have seen this film I think I will be avoiding this 'comic'.
The film lacks humor on every level, and tries to set up jokes that fizzle and fail relentlessly.
The story is starts off on an interesting premise, find out what makes Muslims laugh. It then goes off on tangents, tells us nothing about the Muslim sense of humor, nor what makes them (or us) laugh. The standup show scene in the New Delhi hall was beyond awful and magnifies Brooks' lack of comedic talent. I remember thinking that these people arent laughing not because they're Muslim, or Hindu, but because the comic is atrocious.
Other plot structures go nowhere, the assistant's jealous boyfriend for instance. This film could have had so much potential with the right script and right talent, unfortunately with Brooks' annoying tone and flat attempts at comedy, it goes nowhere.
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