Salmon Fishing in the Yemen

A deadly combination of fishing philosophy, lifestyle mysticism, advertising kitsch and great actors. And by the way, this is another film that stands on a certain premise and denies it by its very nature (this is becoming such a nice tradition). Salmon is a fish that swims upstream, whilst this is an obese carp from the pond. And it stinks from the head down. (05/15/2012)

Honestly, if it weren't for the always coolly beautiful Emily Blunt in the lead role and Lasse Hallström in the director's chair, I probably wouldn't have cared about Salmon Fishing in the Yemen in the slightest. It's a bare fact that Hallström has long since ceased to be what he used to be and he's undeniably past his prime (I'd bet my apartment that he will go to his grave before he ever makes anything better than Gilbert Grape). But here, quite exceptionally, he scored and gave rise to an enjoyable story that works quite well as a relatively tasteful romance. I don't know if it was the intention of the filmmakers to show that apart from the fanatical Arabs there are also nice ones with ambitions to build lakes for catching salmon in the middle of the desert, but the fact is that the character of the sheikh is actually quite appealing (in the film, of course; in real life, however...). Partly a kind of clumsy political satire, partly a bit of philosophy about finding oneself, and a bit of an attempt at the agitprop that there are good Arabs too. But without the politics, it works best as a slightly romantic drama. (11/02/2013)

Salmon Fishing in the Yemen has both screenplay and actors to support it. McGregor is right on the border between nice guy and eccentric jerk and he and Blunt work nicely together. The A-grade cutting British humor and the absurdity of the whole idea becomes much more serious towards the end. Hallström serves us on a silver platter not just salmon, but also one of the most pleasant romantic comedies of the past few years. (03/12/2017)

Fewer minutes, less of the rich, kind sheik, less “lemonade" during the salmon finale, but on the other hand greater portions of the perfect bureaucratic satire (and why not just a straight comedy à la Yes, (Prime) Minister for the Kristin Scott Thomas/Conleth Hill) duo... That would have helped Hallström from falling into the “pleasant, but utterly humdrum" category. P.S.: McGregor is wrongly type-cast in his role; does anybody (women) find his boring, hen-pecked, dry pen-pusher act convincing? It’s like having Halle Berry play Precious. (05/05/2012)

I’ve recently seen a similarly goofy movie, though a little less well-known than this one. It was called Flicker. Like Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, it was absurd and it was very nice to look at. In the same way, however, I couldn’t get over the absurdity and somehow couldn’t get rid of the impression that even though the idea is pleasant, the execution is very nice and the actors play brilliantly, I’ll probably never watch this film again and it won’t bother me at all. (07/27/2013)