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Salmon Fishing In The Yemen

SALMON FISHING IN THE YEMEN directed by Lasse Hallström, written by Simon Beaufoy from the novel by Paul Torday, with Ewan McGregor, Emily Blunt, Kristin Scott Thomas and Amr Waked. An Alliance Films release. 112 minutes. Opens Friday (March 9). For venues and times, see Movies. Rating: NN


Whimsy and geopolitical metaphor collide and then wobble away dazed in this light comedy about a stuffy salmon expert (Ewan McGregor) and a troubled administrator (Emily Blunt) drawn to each other while working to stock the river of a wealthy Yemeni sheik (Amr Waked) with Atlantic salmon. No, seriously.

The actors are appealing – McGregor channelling Guinness and Sellers circa 1956, Blunt just being her lovely, flinty self. But they can’t quite overcome the artificiality of Simon Beaufoy’s script, which solves each new plot complication mere moments after said complication is introduced. There’s broad-strokes storytelling, but this is just silly.

Hallström seems content to keep cranking out calculating, utterly undistinguished middlebrow fare. I suppose that’s only a problem if you think about how this film compares to genuinely great works like My Life As A Dog and What’s Eating Gilbert Grape.

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