Two stars. Rated R, for profanity, violence, drug use and sexual candor
By Derrick Bang
Bill Murray has been Hollywood’s
magic bullet for a little over than a decade now, ever since delivering such a
memorable performance in 2003’s Lost in
Translation.
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| See anything you like? Richie Lanz (Bill Murray) is unsurprisingly awed by his first glimpse of Merci (Kate Hudson), little realizing that she'll soon become a business partner. |
His presence automatically enhances
the quality of a given film, no matter how small the role. As a star, he can
elevate familiar and otherwise mediocre material (as with, say, St. Vincent); as a supporting or bit
player, his scenes are standouts. (Olive
Kitteridge and Zombieland come to
mind.)
There’s something about Murray’s
deadpan expression that speaks volumes, but defies ready description.
World-weary but not defeated. Smugly condescending, but not to the point of
cruelty. Skeptical but, nonetheless, open-minded.
His characters always seem on the
verge of saying something along the lines of “Show me what you’ve got; I’m
ready to be amazed” ... even as his glance implies serious doubt that the
person in question has anything, let
alone anything amazing.
In short, Murray is a guaranteed
treat.
But not even he can save this
film.
A closing-credits text blurb
explains that Rock the Kasbah honors
Setara Hussainzada, the “girl who danced” during her 2008 performance on Afghan Star, Afghanistan’s answer to our
own American Idol. Merely singing on
live TV in that country is highly dangerous for women; to do so brands them as
blasphemers in the eyes of fundamentalists, who are inclined to view killing
such “transgressors” as wholly justified.
But to compound the felony by
dancing? Unthinkable.
Okay, Hussainzada’s courageous
act definitely demands a story, and scripter Mitch Glazer has embraced that
challenge. But rather poorly, as it turns out. Rock the Kasbah hasn’t the faintest idea what it wants to be —
comedy, drama or rock-hued homage — and not even a director as talented as
Barry Levinson can create a pearl from this tone-deaf grain of sand.
