Movie Review of "Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World"
Rated PG-13
By CK Movie Kid Jonathan Lack

In Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World, Albert Brooks stars as Albert Brooks, a down-on-his-luck actor looking for a job. It's very funny how he makes fun of himself in this movie that he wrote, directed and starred in.

To improve relations with Muslim countries, the U.S. government has formed a committee to find out what makes Muslims laugh. They assign comedian Albert Brooks on a mission to travel to the Middle East to find out the answer to their question with a 500 page report.

Actually, 500 pages is short for a report, the government tells Brooks before he leaves for the Middle East. Daunted by the request of 500 pages, Brooks tries his hardest to find out what makes Muslims laugh, through interviews, jokes, stand-up comedy and an illegal cross into the border of another country.

I thought that was a very funny movie. It wasn't the kind of film where the humor just jumps out at you. The humor was even hidden sometimes, but it was what made this unique from other comedies. You'll find no slapstick comedy here; the movie is, thankfully, free from that aspect of humor. Much of the humor, like I stated above, comes from Brooks making fun of himself. But there were laughs throughout, including plenty of references to Finding Nemo, which Brooks starred in.

But the movie wasn't just made for the laughs. It has a message in it. The reason Brooks is so put off by no one laughing at him is because there is a huge cultural difference between our two civilizations. (That and that his material wasn't all that good, although it made for some funny scenes.)

I would recommend this for ages 13 and up. The content wasn't inappropriate, (there was some language and drug usage) it's that the themes are probably themes that younger children wouldn't understand.

So I would definitely recommend going to see this, or renting it when it comes to video (February, 2005)