Ishtar (1987)
Two terrible lounge singers get booked to play a gig in a Moroccan hotel but somehow become pawns in an international power play between the CIA, the Emir of Ishtar, and the rebels trying to overthrow his regime. (imdb)
Country: USA
Directed By: Elaine May
Written By: Elaine May
Starring: Isabelle Adjani, Warren Beatty, Carol Kane, Dustin Hoffman, Jack Weston, Charles Grodin, Tess Harper, Aharon Ipalé
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Ishtar belongs to 21 collections
1. Female Directors (public: moderated by djross - 83 stars)
2. boobs (public: moderated by Pickpocket - 45 stars)
3. Jonathan Rosenbaum's Top 1000 Movies (public: moderated by PeaceAnarchy - 36 stars)
4. So bad they are good (public: moderated by cagedwisdom - 8 stars)
5. #1 at the US Box Office (public: moderated by BeeDub - 6 stars)
6. Movies that were so bad they were hilarious (public: moderated by letskillrobots - 2 stars)
7. The AV Club: My Year of Flops (public: moderated by MMAlpha - 2 stars)
8. Wikipedia's List of Films Considered the Worst (public: moderated by Svengali - 2 stars)
9. The Flop House Podcast (public: moderated by mucow - 2 stars)
10. Films shot by Vittorio Storaro (public: moderated by Alex Watkins - 1 star)
11. Box-Office Flop (public)
12. Golden Raspberry Award (public: moderated by Pickpocket)
13. Golden Raspberry Award: Worst Director (public)
14. So Bad It's Good (public: moderated by svenerik)
15. Siskel and Ebert Worst (private: donkeyjelly - 3 stars)
16. Terrible Titles (private: donkeyjelly - 1 star)
17. similar to garbage pail kids (private: kikifas - 1 star)
18. PSI being off (private: JooJoo)
19. Welcome to the Basement (private: donkeyjelly)
20. Biggest box office bombs – Adjusted for inflation (private: ramynoodle)
21. Powerhouse Films Releases (private: kjones77)
Browse the full list of collections
| Date | User | Rating | |
| Jan 18 |  |
bof | 39 14% |
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The fact that this movie very obviously wasn't backed by the CIA like most Reagan-era movies about the Middle East just proves that the CIA had some really good script doctors.
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| Dec 29, 2020 | NotALemon | 52 45% |
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| Dec 20, 2020 |  |
capodelnulla | 80 80% |
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I can’t believe I let the reputation of this to kept me from watching it but this is a delightful comedy. Hoffman and Beatty are great, Grodin has an impeccable comedic timing and more importantly, politically, the film hits all the right notes. This might be a rare mainstream Hollywood film featuring Americans in the Middle East and wasn’t script doctored by some spooks.
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| Dec 14, 2020 |  |
Vansteph | 66 15% |
| Dec 11, 2020 |  |
RTAudience | 39 22% |
| Nov 23, 2020 |  |
kaziragi | 27 14% |
| Nov 21, 2020 | mattcbrown | 61 22% |
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| Sep 28, 2020 |  |
Opio | 69 68% |
| Aug 23, 2020 | tyoda | 30 17% |
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| Aug 04, 2020 | hertzfeldts | 41 21% |
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| Jul 26, 2020 |  |
TheShiznit | 26 18% |
| Jul 23, 2020 | Eggeplante | 60 38% |
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| Jul 14, 2020 |  |
FrancoGonzo | 4 10% |
| Jun 13, 2020 | D Lightman | 60 41% |
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| May 23, 2020 | mredlich21 | 95 77% |
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It's funny! Not perfect, but it's definitely funny. Light, happy, silly, and doesn't take itself or anything else too seriously.
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| May 09, 2020 | account2 | 64 73% |
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| Apr 23, 2020 |  |
Vicenzo | 3 10% |
| Apr 22, 2020 | flipperrbm | 1 3% |
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| Apr 21, 2020 | DennisJ1976 | 20 1% |
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| Apr 07, 2020 | Meto | 45 7% |
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| Apr 06, 2020 | GavanRex | 82 32% |
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| Mar 30, 2020 | mjoc0723 | 20 9% |
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| Mar 02, 2020 |  |
defiance13 | 58 30% |
| Feb 25, 2020 | whatevername | 40 5% |
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| Feb 18, 2020 |  |
Nangijala | 50 35% |
| Dec 08, 2019 |  |
kcar181 | 40 1% |
| Dec 06, 2019 |  |
scarecrow | 50 12% |
| Nov 18, 2019 |  |
onrkrsvglu | 60 21% |
| Nov 05, 2019 | brennanc | 15 69% |
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| Oct 08, 2019 | thisispants | 42 4% |
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| Oct 05, 2019 |  |
Florin92 | 20 1% |
| Sep 13, 2019 |  |
MetaCritic2 | 52 31% |
| Sep 04, 2019 | zomgmouse | 80 71% |
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| Aug 25, 2019 | sven_usling | 50 29% |
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| Aug 15, 2019 |  |
rklenseth | 40 8% |
| Jun 19, 2019 |  |
MzeeShikamu | 68 4% |
| May 28, 2019 |  |
Teproc | 65 62% |
| Mar 02, 2019 |  |
ElsaH | 83 45% |
| Feb 22, 2019 | ComedyFool | 20 30% |
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| Feb 17, 2019 |  |
Pugs4Less | 92 74% |
| Feb 16, 2019 |  |
whitejeft | 96 90% |
| Feb 13, 2019 |  |
TrixRabbi | 77 54% |
| Feb 03, 2019 |  |
flowing | 67 78% |
| Dec 27, 2018 | knives | 78 66% |
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| Dec 16, 2018 | TheMarkle | 80 87% |
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| Nov 11, 2018 | vv238 | 19 14% |
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I'll say this first, this is not the worst film ever made, it's very bad but not terrible at all. The early comedic beats sometimes work but at a certain point about one third of the way through this film it gets bogged-down in some of the most boring, overwrought, under-thought, tedious, and unnecessary plot developments which it never recovers from. As a whole, this is a complete bore of a film and a chore to get through.
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| Sep 09, 2018 | Zepheus | 40 19% |
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| Jul 23, 2018 | cjblackstock | 70 24% |
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| Jun 26, 2018 | AmarDesai | 30 11% |
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| Jun 26, 2018 |  |
Yiannos | 55 35% |
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Not as bad as its reputation suggests, but May was the wrong choice for this large scale comedy that satirises America's political tendency to make a mess in the Middle East. She is far better suited to more intimate, character driven pieces, so the action scenes in Ishtar inevitably seem awkward, and there is a conspicuous lack of energy. Beatty and Hoffman are endearing as failed middle aged songwriters, and their songs are beautifully bad, but May's convoluted plot works against them.
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| Jun 25, 2018 |  |
FreddieQuell | 44 28% |
| Jun 12, 2018 | dracular | 70 74% |
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| May 12, 2018 |  |
PerryStroika | 63 54% |
| May 08, 2018 |  |
normatic | 50 19% |
| May 02, 2018 | Coheed | 40 15% |
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| Apr 07, 2018 |  |
astrakhan | 5 0% |
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Absolutely awful. A blind camel gives the standout performance in this film, cruelly denying D. Hoffman his 7th Oscar win. What a truly appalling script - it was just cringeworthy from beginning to end. Muddled, boring, unfunny, paceless. People were either blackmailed into shooting this film, or high on drugs when they signed their contracts.
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| Mar 30, 2018 | tcizadlo | 40 0% |
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| Mar 13, 2018 | kupfertj | 65 42% |
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| Feb 14, 2018 |  |
JimiAntiloop | 65 43% |
| Feb 11, 2018 | davidjn | 40 14% |
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| Feb 03, 2018 | OgreZed | 50 10% |
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| Jan 01, 2018 |  |
cetincelik | 48 18% |
| Dec 31, 2017 | steinbej4 | 17 13% |
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| Dec 13, 2017 |  |
greekgrits | 83 67% |
| Oct 30, 2017 |  |
laertes | 55 39% |
| Aug 30, 2017 | izwt936g | 51 41% |
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| Aug 10, 2017 |  |
Lionel Hutz | 18 16% |
| Aug 10, 2017 |  |
robot2xl | 73 48% |
| Aug 09, 2017 |  |
WarrenWho | 30 2% |
| Jul 17, 2017 |  |
haljordan2 | 1 0% |
| Jul 10, 2017 | SylviaL | 44 22% |
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| Jul 02, 2017 | chxflx | 61 54% |
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| Jun 13, 2017 | silentjake | 30 13% |
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| Jun 13, 2017 |  |
meliorism | 70 50% |
| Jun 01, 2017 | ckflk | 60 47% |
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| Apr 22, 2017 |  |
Pats_London | 45 5% |
| Apr 09, 2017 | spiritofeden | 74 75% |
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| Apr 05, 2017 | 92filmgeek | 54 26% |
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| Feb 23, 2017 |  |
RYM-byrates | 57 37% |
| Feb 22, 2017 | jnydam | 8 5% |
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| Jan 15, 2017 | cshadows2887 | 88 31% |
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| Jan 11, 2017 |  |
hiromiyamoto | 70 23% |
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Those guys were pawns. The '80s was a wonderful time for film comedies. So many memorable comedies came out at the time. Back to the Future, Ghostbusters, Bill and Ted, and Ferris Bueller's Day Off to name a few. And then there's Ishtar. Ishtar is not a good movie by any stretch of the imagination, but if it were released tomorrow, it be much more popular than it was in '87. Ishtar is the key to all of this. Because it's a funnier movie than we've had in theaters in a long while.
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| Dec 26, 2016 | DF Duck | 80 72% |
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| Dec 20, 2016 | chester9876 | 0 12% |
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| Nov 24, 2016 | gregmnewman | 75 46% |
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| Nov 17, 2016 | Mr.Blumfeld | 50 18% |
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| Nov 17, 2016 | Ronin22 | 31 15% |
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| Oct 21, 2016 | imdbtv | 36 8% |
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| Oct 02, 2016 |  |
hsncomert | 10 3% |
| Sep 28, 2016 | ERogers | 10 4% |
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| Aug 28, 2016 |  |
Dorkovsky | 2 13% |
| Aug 21, 2016 | movievortix | 90 65% |
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| Jul 04, 2016 | Col_Needham | 70 47% |
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| Jun 05, 2016 |  |
letterboxdvo | 29 25% |
| May 25, 2016 |  |
jbissell | 55 13% |
| May 17, 2016 | N/A | 50 9% |
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| Apr 17, 2016 | mntypython22 | 88 55% |
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| Apr 16, 2016 |  |
chadisdanger | 57 7% |
| Apr 11, 2016 |  |
arozge | 70 17% |
| Feb 18, 2016 | chair39 | 40 32% |
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| Jan 20, 2016 | 12yots | 72 8% |
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Kinda fun. Commercial failure, I hear, somewhat stale, but nothing extraordinary.
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| Jan 02, 2016 | eassin | 62 62% |
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| Dec 17, 2015 |  |
MUBIvotes | 27 23% |
| Dec 11, 2015 |  |
Guernica | 19 11% |
| Oct 22, 2015 |  |
ITBSPodcast | 100 0% |
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"The PLO was bombing over there and a cruise ship had been taken hostage ...and then Elaine May was causing problems..."
http://illusionpodcast.blogspot.com/2014/08/episode-26-subject-of-this-episode-is.html
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| Sep 27, 2015 | SnoopyStyle | 30 2% |
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| Aug 21, 2015 |  |
jackinthebox | 60 36% |
| Aug 17, 2015 |  |
backwardsuit | 32 4% |
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Embarrassing & tortuously unfunny mess. Not a bad idea for a story but the execution is consistently terrible. Worst editing I've seen in years & I've just watched Manos: The Hands Of Fate. Writing isn't much better either & the tone is going off in six different directions. The same absurdly bad jokes & songs are repeated in one endlessly infuriating sequence. Watching Isabelle Adjani try to work with the horrid material made me sad & what did they have on Hoffman that he had to be in this?
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| May 27, 2015 |  |
Emrah1968 | 15 0% |
| May 19, 2015 | dglink | 40 2% |
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| May 09, 2015 | FlashCalahan | 30 8% |
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| May 06, 2015 |  |
JohnSandwich | 75 74% |
| Apr 30, 2015 | ferguson | 30 2% |
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| Apr 10, 2015 | jjack229 | 57 30% |
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| Feb 19, 2015 |  |
uglyscenes | 25 5% |
| Feb 09, 2015 | Diggler | 5 0% |
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| Jan 25, 2015 | moreisbetter | 0 0% |
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| Dec 22, 2014 | huertaj | 10 0% |
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| Dec 17, 2014 | 10kfilms | 10 2% |
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| Dec 11, 2014 |  |
maborosi | 70 61% |
| Dec 02, 2014 |  |
frbrown | 75 52% |
| Dec 01, 2014 |  |
Ununnilium | 81 78% |
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No, but this is actually a really funny movie that deals with the geopolitics of the 1980s better than any other movie I've seen. Dustin Hoffman and Warren Beatty make amazing idiots, they have the most astounding bromance ever captured on film, all the jokes are at the expense of the right people, and the climax of the movie is the main characters banding together with the heroic rebellion to shoot rocket launchers at CIA helicopters. THIS IS THE ANTI-RAMBO AND IT IS AMAZING.
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| Dec 01, 2014 |  |
OfTheAllies | 75 78% |
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Fuck the haters, this movie is awesome. Anyone who doesn't have at least a few nice things to say about Ishtar hasn't seen it since 1987... if they even bothered to watch it at all. If nothing else, Beatty & Hoffman are brilliant together and the first half hour is one of the most genuine love stories ever committed to film. In a better world, this movie would have gotten the kind of accolades that were thrown at Fatal Attraction (which is trashy, uninspired & has 6 Oscar nominations).
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| Nov 29, 2014 |  |
warrensm | 9 10% |
| Nov 29, 2014 |  |
JakeAesthete | 53 51% |
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With this it pretty much seems like Elaine May invented the Judd Apaptow bromance comedy twenty years too soon (but better of course). Fortunately it no longer appears to be regarded as the trainwreck that it once was, and actually the first 20 minutes at least are pretty great. If anything, the only real problem is that May's strengths obviously aren't best served by big budget action comedies (so essentially it's not unlike when David Gordon Green did Pineapple Express but, you know, better).
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| Nov 26, 2014 | batui | 30 5% |
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| Sep 17, 2014 | angela79at | 70 80% |
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| Aug 31, 2014 |  |
dumbjaw | 62 41% |
| Aug 23, 2014 |  |
Evan D | 70 51% |
| Aug 06, 2014 |  |
Mr. Mxyzptlk | 100 0% |
| Jun 10, 2014 |  |
JooJoo | 4 54% |
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Unlike other huge financial disasters of the 80s (Baron Munchausen / Heaven's Gate), time has not yet caught up to appreciate this goofy, at times charming, and often smartly written flick. There are some gaps in the funny, but it always came back for me.
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| Jun 03, 2014 |  |
jksterup | 75 14% |
| Apr 25, 2014 |  |
Sockman | 50 32% |
| Mar 11, 2014 |  |
drawingboard | 60 19% |
| Feb 21, 2014 | Chazz Chetly | 70 65% |
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| Feb 09, 2014 |  |
spleen | 62 29% |
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That's right, I watched "Ishtar"! You wanna make something out of it! Huh?!
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| Jan 24, 2014 |  |
Marnie | 88 64% |
| Jan 07, 2014 | cantaloupe | 64 20% |
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| Jan 05, 2014 | willow | 80 74% |
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| Jan 04, 2014 | testfly | 75 5% |
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| Dec 01, 2013 |  |
joachimt | 30 1% |
| Nov 05, 2013 |  |
pittler | 20 4% |
| Oct 04, 2013 | Maps | 63 28% |
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| Sep 02, 2013 |  |
GrimsChild | 25 10% |
| Aug 29, 2013 |  |
anthony v | 92 80% |
| Aug 16, 2013 | monoglot | 70 69% |
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| Aug 10, 2013 |  |
Sheldrake | 20 3% |
| Aug 10, 2013 |  |
CCLZA | 65 40% |
| Aug 07, 2013 | dissolve | 7 71% |
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| Jul 28, 2013 |  |
SickForay | 20 9% |
| Jul 23, 2013 | yukiaditya () | 84 42% |
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| Jul 13, 2013 | coloradorich | 55 19% |
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| Jun 14, 2013 |  |
I am prowler | 30 1% |
| Apr 26, 2013 | dsjoerdsma | 85 89% |
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| Apr 11, 2013 | tweissm | 20 9% |
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| Mar 18, 2013 | Cronos | 40 30% |
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| Mar 07, 2013 |  |
Dunstan-xxx | 32 5% |
| Feb 16, 2013 |  |
wetwillies | 90 79% |
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Ishtar is kind of brilliant. In fact, I don't think I've laughed this hard at a movie in a long time. Hoffman and Beatty are simply wonderful together - the first half hour is built entirely on their chemistry and it is probably the best part of the film. Plus, it has Charles Grodin and it is directed by the incredibly talented Elaine May, who sadly had her career ruined by some unfortunate word of mouth which led to this film flopping. Whatever. It's fucking great.
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| Feb 13, 2013 | Batmite | 40 4% |
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| Jan 06, 2013 | codpiece | 45 14% |
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| Oct 24, 2012 | mikeparasol | 51 15% |
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| Sep 30, 2012 | jyt84 | 53 33% |
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| Sep 26, 2012 |  |
Mandros | 2 0% |
| Sep 22, 2012 |  |
octanoid77 | 90 37% |
| Jul 26, 2012 | dgeiser13 | 1 0% |
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| Jul 18, 2012 |  |
Robart | 70 61% |
| Jun 27, 2012 |  |
MedCityFlix (Med City Movie Guy) | 51 33% |
| Jun 13, 2012 |  |
fakesenator | 81 70% |
| May 24, 2012 | Bondo | 63 10% |
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| May 24, 2012 |  |
Amadeus | 20 3% |
| May 08, 2012 | Etta | 70 81% |
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| Apr 18, 2012 |  |
Gordon Cole | 27 11% |
| Apr 11, 2012 | Sondergaard | 60 40% |
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| Feb 16, 2012 |  |
svenerik | 15 2% |
| Feb 02, 2012 |  |
oguzhaners | 25 3% |
| Dec 27, 2011 |  |
Scottathon | 81 75% |
| Dec 21, 2011 |  |
avgcrtckr | 27 8% |
| Dec 10, 2011 | Hangarl | 20 8% |
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| Sep 26, 2011 |  |
auhasarderik | 4 12% |
| Aug 15, 2011 |  |
Leland | 22 6% |
| Aug 12, 2011 |  |
sjostrand | 25 6% |
| Jul 28, 2011 |  |
Antares | 42 7% |
| Jul 08, 2011 |  |
andagh | 77 50% |
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This movie rocks. Sure the plot is totally nonsensical, the characters have no motivation to do the things that they do, and the Adjani character is barely involved but the songs are hilarious and Charles Grodin is awesome. It definitely needs to be watched with a bunch of friends though, preferably drunk.
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| May 17, 2011 | netsirhc | 7 65% |
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| May 08, 2011 |  |
DougCollins | 70 10% |
| Apr 14, 2011 | bogancross | 34 22% |
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| Feb 21, 2011 |  |
LordBeefJerk | 60 51% |
| Dec 01, 2010 |  |
Madeline | 52 16% |
| Nov 27, 2010 |  |
MrE2Me | 65 18% |
| Nov 24, 2010 |  |
snallygaster | 31 21% |
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One of the most unfairly maligned movies ever. Not that it's a great movie; it's mediocre, but bear in mind that its reputation was forged by the same critics who were simultaneously lauding "3 Men & a Baby," apparently with clear consciences. The opening few scenes are hilarious. If the rest were as good, this might be considered a comedy classic today.
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| Oct 18, 2010 | jack_oat67 | 65 1% |
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| Oct 17, 2010 |  |
aselonen | 65 19% |
| Oct 06, 2010 | onetwothree | 70 86% |
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| Sep 29, 2010 |  |
irvinejump | 10 6% |
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This movie has a rep as one of the worst buddy films of the 80's. I see no reason to dispute this
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| Sep 18, 2010 | deadbill | 88 53% |
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| Sep 12, 2010 | toro913 | 37 27% |
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| Aug 20, 2010 |  |
CloseFriend | 58 34% |
| Aug 17, 2010 |  |
ecalder | 50 19% |
| Aug 15, 2010 | cwratliff | 81 20% |
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| Aug 14, 2010 |  |
Taliban | 25 33% |
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delightfully stupid
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| Aug 10, 2010 |  |
IMDb-byvotes | 37 2% |
| May 29, 2010 |  |
rottentomat | 19 13% |
| Apr 29, 2010 |  |
guppy | 0 1% |
| Mar 07, 2010 | komois | 40 8% |
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| Dec 30, 2009 | filmcricket | 28 8% |
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| Dec 09, 2009 |  |
FrederikA | 35 12% |
| Nov 13, 2009 | ricko | 75 78% |
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| Oct 09, 2009 | chgold81 | 50 2% |
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| Oct 04, 2009 |  |
winds | 6 75% |
| Sep 29, 2009 |  |
mlpgaffney | 19 5% |
| Sep 09, 2009 | negative | 3 0% |
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| Aug 29, 2009 | dagda2 | 10 0% |
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| Aug 27, 2009 |  |
13ncuCuma | 15 1% |
| Aug 17, 2009 | Dancon7 | 14 0% |
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| Aug 14, 2009 |  |
Crazy Jack | 30 7% |
| Aug 13, 2009 |  |
snyder_rb | 74 23% |
| Aug 12, 2009 |  |
naikou | 20 5% |
| Aug 08, 2009 | nmallin | 80 49% |
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| Aug 06, 2009 |  |
westknife | 53 19% |
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The best parts are all the little songs they keep coming up with. Also when that hot chick flashes her bewb
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| Jul 26, 2009 |  |
georgia sam | 82 78% |
| Jul 23, 2009 |  |
Cloudynow | 20 1% |
| Jun 23, 2009 |  |
filmaffinity | 37 3% |
| Jun 05, 2009 | aignatiou | 80 50% |
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| May 28, 2009 | a_doomoot3 | 81 33% |
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| Apr 30, 2009 | swat | 55 38% |
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| Apr 12, 2009 |  |
tired_time | 33 3% |
| Apr 12, 2009 |  |
imdb | 36 6% |
| Apr 10, 2009 | Sam Lowry | 1 4% |
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| Apr 07, 2009 | chiphall72 | 74 64% |
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| Mar 28, 2009 |  |
massesRasses | 36 2% |
| Mar 16, 2009 |  |
iconogassed | 80 72% |
| Mar 14, 2009 | iar80 | 19 7% |
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| Mar 09, 2009 |  |
rorqualmaru | 54 10% |
| Feb 18, 2009 | 11.Lauki | 0 0% |
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| Feb 09, 2009 | cblur21 | 25 6% |
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| Jan 18, 2009 | clouseau | 21 3% |
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| Jan 06, 2009 |  |
frigmagnet | 35 4% |
| Jan 06, 2009 | TJ Ximenez | 20 14% |
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| Dec 21, 2008 |  |
Tova | 1 0% |
| Dec 17, 2008 | Alpa Chino | 50 5% |
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| Nov 30, 2008 | digitalmonk | 48 3% |
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| Nov 22, 2008 |  |
Ofterdingen | 48 32% |
| Nov 18, 2008 |  |
HKi | 69 51% |
| Nov 16, 2008 | skeller | 75 12% |
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| Oct 19, 2008 |  |
teecee | 23 22% |
| Aug 13, 2008 |  |
deadstick | 25 5% |
| Aug 03, 2008 |  |
Vandelay1 | 21 16% |
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bad mvoie
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| Jul 04, 2008 | purity | 1 20% |
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| May 29, 2008 |  |
sharpenter | 50 23% |
Displaying 1 to 250 of 337 total ratings: Prev | Next
| Average Percentile 26.43% from 337 Ratings |  |
