Rock The Kasbah

Where did it all start going slightly wrong for Bill Murray? Was it after Lost In Translation or was it around the time he decided he wanted to be Sad Bill Murray from now on? Who knows. All that's clear is that his choice of films are becoming increasingly more miss than hit. Case in point being Rock The Kasbah, probably one of the most forgettable films of this year.

Bill Murray is Richie Lanz, a music manager who burns the ear off anyone willing to listen about his tales from the '70s with Stevie Nicks and other classic rock icons. Now reduced to conning painfully-bad singers out of their money, he's convinced to head to Afghanistan to take part in a USO tour with Zooey Deschanel, his assistant / singer. Pretty soon, Deschanel disappears with his passport and money and Murray has to team up with two white-trash arms dealers (Danny McBride and Scott Caan) to source some money and a way out of Afghanistan. This, eventually, leads him to Leem Lubany, a Pashtun woman whose warlord father Murray has been convinced to do business with. Lubany's character secretly plays Cat Stevens' tunes in a nearby cave which Murray stumbles upon.

The film has a loose basis in reality; 2009's excellent documentary Afghan Star. That documentary focused on the first reality TV singing contest in the country which featured various singers - including one woman who didn't wear a hijab and danced quite freely in her movements. However, what's going on with Rock The Kasbah is a smorgasbord of this story, a fish-outta-water comedy and Bill Murray hooking up Kate Hudson, who plays a prostitute looking to finish out her career and start a new one as a real estate agent.

Murray's performance is muted, at best. It's almost as if he realised what he'd signed up wasn't what he expected, thus forcing him to file out his scenes with a requisite amount of effort. The Bruce Willis career spiral continues here as the actor gives a bland performance as a mercenary who's also writing his memoirs. Zooey Deschanel disappears after about five minutes whilst Kate Hudson just turns up in various scenes, looks pretty and offers Hallmark advice to Leem Labany. Leem Labany, meanwhile, is the only person who comes away from this with any kind of dignity. Quiet, restrained but forceful, her performance is the highlight of a painfully dull experience with little in the way of entertainment or comedy.