Rock The Kasbah

Veteran funny man Bill Murray is so good at playing miserable old curmudgeons who turn out to be really warm human beings before the final credits roll, that he's making quite a career out of it these days.

Following on the heels of last year's "St. Vincent," Murray now swaps Brooklyn for Afghanistan, but once again he is running out of luck. He plays Richie Lanz, a has-been Rock Group Road Manager who has run out of both groups and roads and is now holed up in a makeshift office in a seedy motel conning talentless would-be singers. His only client is a singer who doubles up as his secretary, but she becomes his ticket out when, one night, performing in a dingy karaoke bar in L.A., she gets offered a gig on a tour. The trouble is that's in Afghanistan entertaining the US Troops -- but Lanz, desperate for money, signs up anyway.

His act, however, is far from keen to be performing in a war zone, and no sooner have they landed in Kabul than she runs off, taking Lanz's money and passport with her. Penniless and stranded, Lanz hooks up with some ex-pat arms dealers and gets involved in a scam to sell bad ammunition to a remote Pashun village. It's there that he accidentally discovers a remarkable young singer who he is convinced is enormously talented. The trouble is that as she is a girl, she is totally forbidden to perform according to their very patriarchal culture. To do so could put her life at risk -- and Lanz's too, if he insists on helping her.

This preposterously silly story is based on a real incident when a young local girl was actually brave enough to actually appear on "Afghan Star," a TV show that is their equivalent of "American Idol." However, this take on the story, written by Mitch Glazer and directed by Barry Levinson, uses that fact simply to build a contrived story purely as a vehicle for Murray's wonderfully comic performance.

Setting any comedy in a war zone is always something of a risk, especially one that is so pointless and controversial as Afghanistan, and Levinson has scenes of Lanz insisting on grand-standing and addressing heavily armed militia and getting away with it most of time. Although Lanz is a failed hustler, he still somehow manages to scrape through most of what is thrown at him, not because it adds any credulity to the plot, but simply because there is an unwritten pact with the audience that we all want him to succeed somehow.

The casting is a little bizarre, too, though some of it works exceedingly well. Zooey Deschanel shines as the singer who cannot get out of the country quick enough, and Bruce Willis is brilliant as a strung-out mercenary with a very dull sense of humor. On the other hand, Kate Hudson (as the hooker who is all heart as she works servicing the locals from her double wide) looks decidedly uncomfortable out of place.

As a vehicle for Murray, this film works well most of the time, and devoted fans will love seeing what he does best yet once again. Others, however, may think it drags a little too much -- a little like the war itself.