Synopsis
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.
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Cast
- Warren BeattyLyle Rogers
- Dustin HoffmanChuck Clarke
- Isabelle AdjaniShirra Assel
- Charles GrodinJim Harrison
- Jack WestonMarty Freed
- Tess HarperWilla
- Carol KaneCarol
- Aharon IpaléEmir Yousef
- Fijad HagebAbdul
- David MarguliesMr. Clarke
Recommendations
- 80
Los Angeles Times
A smart, generous, genuinely funny affair. Sometimes, like the camel who almost ambles away with the picture, it's longish in the tooth, but it is based on an extremely astute vision of life. [15 May 1987] - 75
Chicago Tribune
Ishtar is a good movie, but you can't help but wonder if, lurking somewhere in those cans of outtakes, there isn't a great movie, too. [15 May 1987] - 70
Variety
Enter Charles Grodin, who upstages all involved via his savagely comical portrayal of a CIA agent. - 70
Time
Reasonably genial and diverting. [18 May 1987] - 50
The New York Times
The worst of it is painless; the best is funny, sly, cheerful and, here and there, even genuinely inspired. [15 May 1987, p.C3] - 40
TV Guide Magazine
For all the bad press Ishtar received, it does have a certain odd charm... The biggest problem is that any attempted subtlety is swamped by May's bid to turn the film into an epic adventure story. - 40
Wall Street Journal
Hoffman and Beatty are so tone-deaf they don't even know how to play the songs for deadpan humor. They seem old, white, and without shtick. [14 May 1987, p.26(E)] - 40
Film Threat
The guys in Ishtar are the boring wallflowers of the world. They probably shouldn't be mocked, disgraced and beaten, but who really wants to spend close to two hours with them.
