Salmon Fishing in the Yemen

A classic romantic comedy, and yet somehow better. As a way to get a good news story amidst a string of bad press on Afganistan, the British government encourages one of its fishery experts (Ewan McGregor) to take on a consulting job with a Yemenise prince. The catch is that the job is to introduce salmon into Yemen. Of course it can't be done, but somehow there is an honesty about the prince that causes everyone to fall in line and give it the ol' college try. With Emily Blunt as the prince's financial consultant, everything seems to come together with all the requisite bonding and getting over past love, etc. Aside from the novelty of getting salmon to run in Yemen, there is noting new about this film. But somehow it is just cheesy enough, and just slow enough to work. I think the characters are quite well developed in subtle ways (much is said about McGregor as he collects a stray thread to tie a fly, but it never explicitly shows up as as scene later on). This sort of subtlety happens throughout and makes for an enjoyable film.
4 stars (out of 5)