I feel like I sort of asked for this to be a terrible movie with a name like 'Salmon Fishing in the Yemen'. I want to first start by saying, never watch a movie with 'salmon' in the name if you have no interest in fish, or at least that's what I think! I went into this movie with the expectations that it would be a very predictable, romantic comedy with very little to do with fish and fishing; oh how I was wrong! From the moment I realised it was a BBC-made British comedy, I knew it would not be my cup of tea.
There were aspects of a romantic comedy with the predictable ending and the jokes throughout but the main theme of the entire thing was very different. The story is about a fisheries expert, Dr Alfred Jones (Ewan McGregor), who is approached by a consultant, Harriet Chetwode-Talbot (Emily Blunt), on behalf of a Sheik Muhammad (Amr Waked) to realise a dream of bringing Salmon fly-fishing to the desert of Yemen at whatever cost. To start with, Dr Jones believes the task to be impossible but after the Prime Minister comes on board he is forced to make it a reality with the help of the press secretary (Kristin Scott Thomas) who provides most of the comedy throughout with her persistent manner and internet chats to the Prime Minister about matter of if he can fish or not.
Throughout the journey to making this a reality, there is a sub-story between Harriet and her 3-week boyfriend Robert, who is sent to Afghanistan by the British Army and then becomes 'missing in action'. This is over-turned by the romance blossoming between Harriet and Dr Jones, however, this romance never really goes anywhere as the movie seems to really have it's main focus sturdily on the fish. Although the main story is that of getting salmon to the Yemen, there are a few sub-stories which almost make an attempt to turn this slow-paced, British comedy into an war action including an attempted assassination on the Sheik and a near-sabotage to the project by extremists of the country who don't believe this is the right way to be spending the countries money.
These 'action' scenes, though seemingly out of place, really did provide the only form of entertainment for me throughout the entire movie. That is, aside with Ewan McGregor's character who was a very well-spoken Scottish man, passionate about all things fishing and very involved with the entire thing. After initially having no idea who is was (I'm sorry!) I found myself to really enjoying watching him and his character develop, even with the limited storyline to work with. I just wish his and Emily Blunt's character had more on-screen chemistry because I found it difficult to really believe their shared 'romance' among the other romances they shared in their current relationships.
This is definitely an easy watch, typical British movie that based it's self on the faith of the characters. The main plot was given extra padding by the sub-stories which without would have been little more than a fishing trip to the Yemen. I can honestly say now that that was two hours of my life I will never get back, and without the comedy and action parts I don't think I could have got through it. This is definitely much like fishing, you are either going to find it thrilling and entertaining or utterly dull. I was the latter I'm afraid.
