Ishtar

Elaine May's 1987 film, starring Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman as struggling (and largely untalented) New York singer/songwriters caught between CIA machinations and revolutionary fighters in a fictional North African country, suffered from a runaway budget and creative ego clashes. A notorious commercial flop, Ishtar was pounded by critics, and unfairly branded as one of the worst films ever made. Never as clever as it should be, but funnier than its reputation suggests, the film is a spoof of American masculinity and foreign policy that is served up as a farcical “road” movie. Beatty and Hoffman play the Hope and Crosby parts as sensitive new-age guys and best buddies Lyle Rogers and Chuck Clarke, who, after being dumped by their respective girlfriends, leave New York City for a gig at a nightclub in Morocco. French actress Isabelle Adjani is their Dorothy Lamour, as Arab activist Shirra, who is part of a group fighting a CIA-backed despot. The plot involves an ancient map that could spark a revolution, but that's just a gimmick to drop Lyle and Chuck into the middle of conspiracies while Charles Grodin, costarring as local CIA chief Jim Harrison (with hilarious understatement), recruits them as spies, shadows their movements, and targets them for elimination. May co-wrote the songs with Paul Williams, and they're some of the greatest bad songs ever sung in a movie since Kiss Me, Stupid. While Ishtar is still a minor film, its reputation may attract interest. Bowing on Blu-ray in a director's cut (which actually runs two minutes shorter than the theatrical version), this is an optional purchase. (S. Axmaker)