Rock the Kasbah (2015)

Touches You

Don't Believe the Hype

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

A down-on-his-luck music manager discovers a teenage girl with an extraordinary voice while on a music tour in Afghanistan and takes her to Kabul to compete on the popular television show, Afghan Star. Rock the Kasbah is a weird mix of different genres in one and has a wasted Bill Murray playing himself and being a ******** to most people, Willis playing himself and a bunch of other actors too and the overall result is the exact thing i was expecting it to be. (0/10)

Back in the good old days of hippiness, this movie probably would have been a huge success. Yes, it has a very simple message: "A Song Really Can Change the World". It can overcome hate, prejudice and suppression. Yes, the plot is tacky and far beyond reality. So, what the hack!? Most movies have nothing to do with realism, but with how we wish the world to be, even if we know it will never happen. I understand that nations at war like Afghanistan and the U.S.A. have troubles laughing about the situation in which they are stuck for decades, however I wish that a feel-good movie like this one may help a little bit to overcome this quandary. So I recommend it to everybody who has a little bit of the Summer of Love left, and to all the rest who still think the world can become a better place... how tiny the odds.

This film tells the story of an American rock band manager who goes to Afghanistan to tour his singer. However, the singer leaves the country unannounced, leaving him with no singer for the tour. He enlists the help of a local woman to appear on TV, hoping to make her a star."Rock the Kasbah" has a very slow pace and very uninteresting storyline. It takes an hour of screen time to get into the main theme, i.e. the Afghan woman. The story is full of cultural insensitivity, such as Bill Murray's character touching the local woman's shoulder to congratulate her success. In addition, he is simply forcing his own views and values onto another culture, violating almost every cultural rule and norm of the local country. His character is offensive in every way. Actually the film is offensive. It's one thing to break out of chains and realise one's potential, but it's another to disregard another culture's rule and norms to bring about a change that is not necessarily welcomed by the other culture.

I sat through it. Give me credit. Was it horrible? Uh, no, not horrible. Was it a good movie? Uh, no, not a good movie. Were there a couple of chuckles and did it kill time? Yes. Did it need more Zooey? Yes, oh yes. But alas, she left early on and it went downhill. I guess there was a background story here about a Afghanistan girl and a talent show and the politics involved. I get the idea but didn't buy how it was presented on screen. Probably a real important issue but this movie didn't do it justice. Give them credit for trying? Okay.There was some interesting scenery.You like Bill Murray? You want to see him be Bill? Fine, go for it. Otherwise, I doubt you make it through it.