Bill Murray Was ‘Impressed’ by Miley Cyrus While Filming His Christmas Special

From start to finish, the tone-deaf screenplay by Mitch Glazer (who directed Murray in 2010’s wretched “Passion Play”) doesn’t adequately dramatize that duality, instead veering wildly between having Richie act like a two-bit loser and a skilled salesman whose gift of gab gets things done even in the face of insurmountable odds. His unlikely go-between in this desert landscape: Richie Lanz, the visiting LA talent manager portrayed by the great Bill Murray in the not-good “Rock the Kasbah”. Then again, there will probably never be a good time to release a project as fundamentally misjudged and disjointed as “Rock the Kasbah”. With the support and prodding of a hooker with a golden heart (Kate Hudson), Richie works his rumpled magic. There is one beautifully surreal moment in which Richie, walking along the barren landscape at night, hears the sublime voice of teenager Salima (Leem Lubany, lovely) from a nearby cave. But don’t get bogged down in details.

In a guest apperance on Jimmy Kimmel Live promoting his upcoming movie Rock the Kasbah, comedian and actor Bill Murray admitted to Jimmy Kimmel and the audience that he has never watched any movies or TV shows on Netflix, according to a report from Entertainment Weekly. Her tale doesn’t have as happy an ending as this one does.

The gaps between the hipster comedy of the star, the incipient sentimentality of the story and the gravely depressing reality of the setting provide tonal abysses simply too vast to bridge in Rock the Kasbah, an intermittently amusing but dramatically problematic mish-mash that careens all over a rough and rocky road. I’d also accept “Troop Beverly Hills actress”.

Our own Vince Mancini called the new movie Rock the Kasbah “mystifying” and a “whatsit.”

It’s at this point, at least an hour into the film, that one realizes just how many ludicrous narrative contrivances the filmmakers have had to laboriously string together to bring their American protagonist into contact with the Afghan singer who will finally set the story in motion. There might be a decent movie in here somewhere, if the focus had been on the right character. There’s Riza (Arian Moayed), his instantly game cab driver turned translator. And to illustrate this Vulture infographic. Richie convincing a father to accept his daughter. It’s Murray’s show, in addition to being a white-savior showbiz fable of a particularly dubious and retrograde variety. It’s a little bit “American Dreamz” mixed with “Million Dollar Arm”, and although it could be the basis for an entire feature, “Rock the Kasbah” only includes it as a way to wrap up a meandering, scattered script in a way that cries out for emotional attachment.