Rock The Kasbah

This review may contain spoilers!

This movie is certifiably insane but has a lot of positive messages in it. I would give Rock The Kasbah a 7.5/10.

This film hooks you really well throughout, landing a good joke or presenting an interesting choice of subject matter at just the right point to keep the pacing moving. Ultimately the comedic elements of this film were some of the best parts, most jokes landed exceptionally well. What I really liked was the commentary in this film about Afghan culture as well as the conflict within Afghanistan; both observing the Afghan and American sides. While this film did have an American 'save the day' you didn't feel like this took away from the respectful approach towards telling what was ultimately a cultural story. The soundtrack makes this film, it's utilised as a character within this film while also aiding the comedic scenes of the film.

Bill Murray, who played Richie Lanz, was an incredible comedic protagonist in this film; his character's development was masterfully done because you feel like you've learnt the exact same lesson that Murray's character has by the end of the film. Fahim Fazli, who played Tariq, has quite a strong presence in this film; his line delivery is incredible. Taylor Kinney, who played Private Barnes, gives a convincing performance as a soldier but also nails a really awkward scene between himself and Murray; the scene between him and Murray is one of the funniest of the film and it's mostly due to Kinney.

However the best performance came from Scott Caan and Danny McBride, who played Jake and Nick respectively. They were easily some of the best comedic talents within this film, managing to outshine even Murray himself. Their chemistry with one another was flawless and I really admired how well they could bounce off of one another. They delivered a very satirical performance and definitely introduced a strong theme of war profiteering.

This film had very little to present in terms of visual style, the slow cutting was a testament to this. The cinematography didn't help much either as it focussed less upon imagery and instead constructed a fairly basic shot.

Bruce Willis, who played Bombay Brian, was an absurd role in this film and didn't feel like he belonged; Willis really felt like he was just cashing it in within this film. Kate Hudson, who played Merci, is just another prostitute role that falls for Murray; Hudson really had little more to contribute to this film than a weak romance subplot. Zooey Deschanel, who played Ronnie, felt like she had been written to leave; therefore you never really connected to Deschanel's performance at all. Leem Lubany, who played Salima, proved that a nice voice does not always mean a good acting ability; Lubany gave a weak performance alongside her co-stars and probably should have been introduced a lot sooner in the film. Arian Moayed, who played Riza, just felt like Murray's mouthpiece in this film; you didn't think much of his character unless he was translating for Murray. Jonas Khan and Sameer Ali Khan, who played Nazir and Azam Ghol respectively, just felt like stereotypical antagonists; they were never developed but instead just angrily arrived at the final act of the film. Beejan Land, who played Daoud, sounded like he had barely memorised his lines; his performance was annoying to watch because it was so simplistic.