While its performances are entertaining and premise is engaging, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen doesn’t pack enough punch in its political satire or depth in its love story to sustain itself.
It’s a shame, for this is a film that had the potential and personnel to be something special instead of the “it’s ok” yarn presented. After all, any film about a mega wealthy Sheik who spends millions on creating a river system in the Yemen to appease his Salmon fishing passion has to have something going for it.
In this case it’s the characters, played by a charming bunch of actors. Chief among them is Ewan McGregor who stars as Dr. Alfred Jones, a specialist in the Fishing and Agriculture department who is called upon to help the Sheik with his Salmon project.
You see, the British government is in need of a good news story in the Middle East to distract voters form the countries role in the Afghanistan war, and the mad Sheik and his love for fish is the perfect catch.
That in itself could have provided enough sustenance to present a biting and funny comedy. Yet director Lasse Hallstrom and screenwriter Simon Beaufoy have chosen instead to focus on its love story, with the grumpy Dr. Jones and the Sheik’s western representative Harriet Chetwode-Talbot (Emily Blunt) finding themselves falling for one another.
It’s not that McGregor and Blunt don’t provide good performances. McGregor is very funny playing a prat who takes himself way too seriously, his attempts to outsmart everyone often failing miserably. Blunt too is good, although she often has to rest on her charm and beauty to see her straight-man role through. Yet the way that Hallstrom has this romance play out feels forced, losing whatever genuine connection existed between the two.
Worse is the other romance factor, that of its mystic spiritualism centred around it’s Sheik Muhammed (Amr Waked) who is framed as a prophet of the fishing fraternity, his talk of faith in fishing framing him as a cartoon character with no tangible ties to reality and a slightly unethical tangent in how he spends his money.
However, salvation is found in Kristen Scott Thomas. Appearing in many a heavy French drama over the last several years, Scott Thomas steals scenes as the fierce, biting press secretary who will not take no for an answer.
Perhaps if Hallstrom had focused his gaze more on this political monster than the love birds and their Sheik wizard, a better film could be had. |