‎Ishtar (1987) directed by Elaine May • Reviews, film + cast • Letterboxd

Ishtar

1987 Directed by Elaine May

Two terrible lounge singers get booked to play a gig in a Moroccan hotel but somehow become pawns in an international power play between the CIA, the Emir of Ishtar, and the rebels trying to overthrow his regime

Warren Beatty Dustin Hoffman Isabelle Adjani Charles Grodin Jack Weston Tess Harper Carol Kane Aharon Ipalé Cristine Rose Matt Frewer Alex Hyde-White

107 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by Willow Catelyn ★★★★½

dear Ishtar,

I love you. I hope one day everyone else does too.

Sincerely,
willow
Review by Scott Tobias ★★★½ 6

A predestined failure that has emerged, 25 years later, as an orphan worth adopting-- awkward at times, with leads that work hard to redeem their miscasting, but winning and sweet and full of inspired silliness. The film handles the far outskirts of show business with a knowing wit that the Moroccan mayhem cannot quite equal (though the blind camel is never not funny), but its overall affability wins the day for me.
Review by Sam Van Hallgren ★★★★ 2

I mostly loved this, but while May's first three films retain an uneasy tension through their final frames, this one did go slack for me in its last 20 minutes or so. (To be specific, I'd say it's when Hoffman and Beatty head into the desert. Despite the life and death scenario, the stakes for these characters - beyond survival - become really unclear). But the first hour+ is filled with hilarious bits, quotable lines ("You really know the lingo") and a reminder of just how good Hoffman in particular can be (and national treasure Charles Grodin.) Early on the movie captures something beautiful about artistic partnerships - and maybe all partnerships. And the fact that this pair are so…
Review by Peter Labuza ★★★★½ 3

Songwriters of Arabia
On a ledge of sanity.
Patsies for politics
Blind as a camel.
Honest and popular
Don't go hand in hand.
Review by cristinanever ★★★★★ 1

Anyone who calls this a bad movie is a smuck.
Review by Josh Larsen ★★★½ 5

There are two prevailing narratives surrounding Ishtar: that it is either a colossally unfunny folly deserving of its box-office death or a misunderstood masterpiece for which audiences just weren’t ready. I wish I could make a conclusive case either way, but my honest experience of the movie — nearly 30 years after its release — was somewhere in the middle. I found Ishtar to be a lovable misfire, an undeniably messy movie that you nonetheless want to treasure just for its oddball existence.

Full review here.

Recent reviews

Review by Lee Markham ★★½

Costing upwards of $50 million in the 1980s. This is undoubtably a galactic waste of money. I did laugh a fair bit though, Beatty and Hoffman as a terrible musical double act is a lot of fun. Why on earth they decides to add a C.I.A escapade in the Middle East is a question for the ages. Safe to say they would not make this kinda film nowadays, and I absolutely understand that decision.
Review by Daniel Smith

A film made of two entirely different films. A complete mess. Disjointed to buggery.
Hoffman and Beatty's turn as a failed singer duo is pretty funny in places though.

Hoffman's costume designer also deserves all the Oscars.
Review by Ewan ★★★

I appreciate that this film has received a certain level of critical reassessment since its inauspicious debut in 1987 saw it lumbered with all the baggage of the bloated Hollywood mainstream turkey, as if there's something inherently bad about the film aside from the fact it lost the studio money. I didn't love it, though, but I don't really get on with Beatty or Hoffman at the best of times. Their characters are bad lounge singers -- comically bad, of course, but they just seemed straight up awful to me. Then there's some to-do about the CIA in North Africa, which is all very on the nose when it comes to US foreign policy (and I appreciate that), but then…
Review by Peter Cox ★★

Dumb and Dumber in the middle east and about as good as that would be.

Blind camel: Well, okay... this is funny.

Auction scene: Well, okay... this is offensive.
Review by Matthew Roberts ★★★★

Among mankind's greatest injustices is that this somehow killed Elaine May's directing career.
Review by Oliver Mann ★★★★½

Chuck Clarke: Stupid-ass camel! He'd rather sit there and die!
Lyle Rogers: You know, I kind of admire that.
Chuck Clarke: Me too.

BIG MOOD
Review by Jan Sol ★★½

3,2,3,4-4,2,3 AND These men are PAWNS! I put a price of 20,000 dirham on their heads. Next they will be hailed as the true messenger of GOD! They were just a couple of songwriters, who came to Ishtar, to break into show business. Easy boy, easy boy, easy boy, easy boy! What the hell's the matter with him is he blind?! Well yeah he is, bu-but he's in perfect condition. So how did they wind up on everyone's hit list? Your life is in danger. Behave normally we have guns pointed at your back. No don't put your hands up you idiot! Oh little darlin'. My little darlin'. I can't believe these men may control the fate of the Middle…
Review by Alister Burton

Elaine May's final film was slaughtered by the critics upon its release in the '80s, but now that a few decades have passed, we're allowed to 're-evaluate' it and grant it masterpiece status...

Except, no thanks. It is an unfocused mess of a movie, and although it has a couple of funny moments, they are few and far between.

Tales of fall-outs and alarming use of budgets dogged Ishtar from the moment it was released, and although cast and crew have played down such stories in the years since, you can see by the disjointed end product that all wasn't rosy behind the scenes.

Ask yourself honestly, if Ishtar was a brand new film released today, what would you think of it?
Review by Michael Hewis ★★

Around the World in Cinema 2018 - USA

Ishtar, a name which evokes infamy and box office poison. A granddaddy of infamous tankings in Hollywood cinema I have finally experiences. The circumstances are far more suspect to why it failed, a sense individuals were out for Elaine May in a way that's completely reprehensible. I cannot say, however, Ishtar is a lost masterpiece. Not even that its a flawed gem. If anything, May should've given up on Ishtar and continued on something else when things turned sour on here mid-shooting. Her career is not as prolific as many and she has dealt with interference throughout her career, but if she just accepted defeat she might've had a career still afterwards.…