''Rock the Kasbah'' is a 2015 American

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

directed by

Barry Levinson Barry Lee Levinson (born April 6, 1942) is an American filmmaker, comedian and actor. Levinson's best-known works are mid-budget comedy drama and drama films such as '' Diner'' (1982); ''The Natural'' (1984); '' Good Morning, Vietnam'' (1987); ...

and written by Mitch Glazer. The film stars

Bill Murray William James Murray (born September 21, 1950) is an American actor and comedian. He is known for his deadpan delivery. He rose to fame on ''The National Lampoon Radio Hour'' (1973–1974) before becoming a national presence on '' Saturday Nig ...

as a talent manager sent to

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

for a

USO The United Service Organizations Inc. (USO) is an American nonprofit-charitable corporation that provides live entertainment, such as comedians, actors and musicians, social facilities, and other programs to members of the United States Armed F ...

tour,

Kate Hudson Kate Garry Hudson (born April 19, 1979) is an American actress and businesswoman. She has received numerous awards and nominations, including a Golden Globe Award, a Critics' Choice Movie Award and a Satellite Award, as well as nominations f ...

as his partner in country,

Bruce Willis Walter Bruce Willis (born March 19, 1955) is a retired American actor. He achieved fame with a leading role on the comedy-drama series ''Moonlighting'' (1985–1989) and appeared in over a hundred films, gaining recognition as an action hero a ...

as his armed protection and book client, and Leem Lubany as his musical discovery.

Open Road Films Open Road Films, LLC (formerly Global Road Entertainment from 2017 to 2018) is an American film production and distribution company based in Los Angeles, California. It was founded by Eric Hohl on March 26, 2011 as a joint venture between the t ...

released the film on October 23, 2015.

Plot

Richie Lanz, a has-been rock manager, takes his last remaining client on a

tour of

. When Richie finds himself in

Kabul Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province; it is administratively divided into 22 municipal districts. Acco ...

, abandoned, penniless and without his U.S. passport, he discovers a young Afghan girl named Salima with an extraordinary voice and manages to convince Producer of Afghan Star Daoud to put her through Afghanistan's version of ''

American Idol ''American Idol'' is an American singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It aired on Fox from June 11, 2002, to Ap ...

''. The story is very freely adapted from the 2009 documentary ''

Afghan Star ''Afghan Star'' is a reality television show competition that searches for the most talented singers across Afghanistan. The program broadcasts on the TOLO channel. ''Afghan Star'' premiered in 2005, four years after the fall of the Taliban, w ...

'', and was dedicated to one of the stars of that film, Setara Hussainzada.

Cast

as Richie Lanz *

as Merci *

Zooey Deschanel Zooey Claire Deschanel (; born January 17, 1980) is an American actress, singer, and songwriter. She made her film debut in '' Mumford'' (1999) and had a supporting role in Cameron Crowe's film '' Almost Famous'' (2000). Deschanel is known for h ...

as Ronnie *

Danny McBride Daniel Richard McBride (born December 29, 1976) is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter and producer. He starred in the HBO television series ''Eastbound & Down'', '' Vice Principals'', and ''The Righteous Gemstones'', also co-creating th ...

as Nick *

Scott Caan Scott Andrew Caan (born August 23, 1976) is an American actor, director, photographer, writer, and former rapper. He received his breakthrough role in '' Ocean’s Eleven'' as Turk Malloy who he played in the '' Ocean’s trilogy'' and starred ...

as Jake * Leem Lubany as Salima * Beejan Land as Daoud *

Eugenia Kuzmina Eugenia Kuzmina (russian: Евге́ния Кузьминá; ''Yevgeniya Kuzmina''; born 25 December 1987) is a Russian-American actress, comedian and model. Her modeling career took off when she appeared on the cover of '' Glamour'', and walked ...

as Gula *

Arian Moayed Arian Moayed ( fa, آرین مؤید, born April 15, 1980) is an Iranian-American actor, writer, and director. Moayed received a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actor in a Play for his performance in ''Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo'' a ...

as Riza *

as Bombay Brian *

Taylor Kinney Taylor Jackson Kinney (born July 15, 1981) is an American actor and model. He has played Mason Lockwood in ''The Vampire Diaries'', Jared in ''Zero Dark Thirty'', Phil in '' The Other Woman'', and Chicago Fire Department Lieutenant Kelly Severi ...

as Private Barnes *

Glenn Fleshler Glenn Fleshler (born September 5, 1968) is an American actor. On television he is noted as a recurring cast member on ''Boardwalk Empire'' who portrayed real-life bootlegger George Remus, for appearing on '' Billions'', and as Errol Childress in ...

as Army Warrant Office * Sameer Ali Khan as Azam Ghol *

Fahim Fazli Fahim Fazli (; born May 30, 1966) is an Afghan American film actor. Biography Fazli was born in Kabul, Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landl ...

as Tariq * Jonas Khan as Nizar * Sarah Baker as Maureen

Production

The film was announced in September 2013. In February 2014,

acquired the US distribution rights to the film. In March 2014,

Shia LaBeouf Shia Saide LaBeouf (; born June 11, 1986) is an American actor, performance artist, and filmmaker. He played Louis Stevens in the Disney Channel series ''Even Stevens'', a role for which he received Young Artist Award nominations in 2001 and ...

, who had been cast in the film, dropped out. A few days later,

replaced LaBeouf.

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as a ...

and production began on June 2, 2014, and ended on July 30, 2014. It was filmed in Morocco

Release

On August 20, 2014,

announced the film would be released on April 24, 2015. On May 13, 2015, the film's release date was pushed up from November 13, 2015, to October 23, 2015.

Box office

This film opened on October 23, 2015, alongside ''

The Last Witch Hunter ''The Last Witch Hunter'' is a 2015 American fantasy action film directed by Breck Eisner and written by Cory Goodman, Matt Sazama, and Burk Sharpless. The film stars Vin Diesel as an immortal witch hunter who must stop a plague from ravaging ...

'', '' Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension'', ''

Jem and the Holograms ''Jem'', also known as ''Jem and the Holograms'', is an American animated musical television series that ran from 1985 to 1988. The series is about record company owner Jerrica Benton, her singer alter-ego Jem, and the adventures of Jem and her ...

'', and the expanded release of '' Steve Jobs''. In its opening weekend, the film was originally projected to gross $6 million from 2,012 theaters; however, after grossing $75,000 during its Thursday preview screenings ($60 per theater), projections were lowered to $4 million. The film grossed $529,000 on its first day, and opening weekend projections were again lowered to $1.6 million. In its opening weekend, the film grossed $1.5 million, finishing 13th at the box office. According to

Box Office Mojo Box Office Mojo is an American website that tracks box-office revenue in a systematic, algorithmic way. The site was founded in 1998 by Brandon Gray, and was bought in 2008 by IMDb IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is ...

, the film had the fifth-worst opening of all-time for a film playing in 2,000+ theaters, grossing an average $731 per venue (fellow opener ''Jem and the Holograms'' had an even worse $570 average).

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film has an approval rating of 7% based on 123 reviews and an average rating of 3.38/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "The Shareef don't like ''Rock the Kasbah'', and neither will viewers hoping for a film that manages to make effective use of Bill Murray's knack for playing lovably anarchic losers." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, the film has a score of 29 out of 100 based on 35 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". On CinemaScore, audiences gave the film an average grade of "B−" on an A+ to F scale.

References

External links

* * * * {{Barry Levinson 2015 films 2015 comedy-drama films American comedy-drama films 2010s English-language films Films about music and musicians Films set in Afghanistan Shangri-La Entertainment films Open Road Films films Films directed by Barry Levinson Films produced by Bill Block Films scored by Marcelo Zarvos Films with screenplays by Mitch Glazer 2015 comedy films 2015 drama films 2010s American films