Rock the Kasbah fails to rock: Bill Murray’s latest turn as a tour manager is an out of tune comedy, says BRIAN VINER 

By Brian Viner For The Daily Mail

Published: 21:01 EST, 17 March 2016 | Updated: 22:39 EST, 17 March 2016

Rock The Kasbah (15) 

Rating:

Bill Murray plays a jaded music-tour manager, Richie Lanz, living off probably untrue stories of working with Madonna and Stevie Nicks, and trying to eke out an unprincipled living by feeding dreams to no-hopers in a blue-collar Californian town.

That in itself is not a bad premise for a film, but Murray’s lugubriousness is destined for Afghanistan, after he is told that there is a fortune to be earned in entertaining the troops.

So off he goes with his protegee, Ronnie (Zoey Deschanel). Only she very quickly and wisely decides that Kabul is not for her, leaving Richie to find moral redemption in the shape of a Pashtun woman, Salima (Leem Lubany).

Bill Murray plays a jaded music-tour manager, Richie Lanz, who is sent to Afghanistan to entertain the troops

Bill Murray plays a jaded music-tour manager, Richie Lanz, who is sent to Afghanistan to entertain the troops

She can sing, and with his help becomes the first female contestant on Afghanistan’s version of American Idol, Afghan Star. You can imagine how that goes down with the local warlords. 

It’s vaguely based on a true story, but despite the odd good line neither Barry Levinson’s direction nor Mitch Glazer’s script breathe much fun or even poignancy into it.

Bruce Willis pops up as a grunting mercenary, but that doesn’t save the film from being dragged from the kasbah into the mire.

Nor could I work out the point of Kate Hudson as a tart with a heart, or why we were meant to be charmed, or maybe amused, by the spectacle of her turning away the long queue of punters outside her Portakabin, telling them it would spare them all a dose of a sexually transmitted disease.

A resounding misfire.

Brian Viner couldn't understand the point of Kate Hudson's character as a 'tart with a heart'

Brian Viner couldn't understand the point of Kate Hudson's character as a 'tart with a heart'

Lanz's protegee Ronnie (Zoey Deschanel) very quickly and wisely decides that Kabul is not for her

Lanz's protegee Ronnie (Zoey Deschanel) very quickly and wisely decides that Kabul is not for her


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