Salmon Fishing in the Yemen (2012)

Directed by: Lasse Hallström | 120 minutes | drama, comedy, romance | Actors: Emily Blunt, Ewan McGregor, Kristin Scott Thomas, Rachael Stirling, Amr Waked, Tom Mison, Catherine Steadman, Jill Baker, Dixie Arnold, Pippa Andre, Waleed Akhtar, Simone Liebman, Hamza Saeed, James Cutting, Hamish Gray, Steven Blake

As strange as the title suggests, the film ‘Salmon Fishing in the Yemen’ doesn’t want to be. Despite an excellent cast, consisting of Ewan McGregor, Emily Blunt and Kristin Scott Thomas, it remains flat and only just manages to pull itself out of the mediocre numbers, although the names will attract enough audiences to the cinema not to be a total flop .

First and foremost it must be said that ‘Salmon Fishing in the Yemen’ is not a bad film. The acting is in order, the plot – based on the book of the same name by Paul Torday – is nicely made up and the cinematography is even excellent, but everything just flows on towards an almost hopelessly predictable outcome. And that while director Lasse Hallström has made so many films that managed to circumvent this predictable character (‘The Cider House Rules’ and ‘What’s Eating Gilbert Grape’ for example), but in recent years the Swede has dropped to a mediocre level. Films like this one and its predecessor ‘Dear John’ can cheer enough moviegoers, and the romantic undertones of his films often don’t feel articulated, but they don’t last long either.

For example, ‘Salmon Fishing In The Yemen’ is a film that offers you an hour and 45 minutes of entertainment of an acceptable level. It never goes below par – leave that to Ewan McGregor, who plays strong, and Kristin Scott Thomas, who is nothing short of great in any film – but it never sparkles either, leaving the film like unimaginable pulp. , a snack, can be seen. A meager six; the money put into this film could have been better spent on real cinema, for example the kind of films Hallström used to make: heartwarming, comical and original. ‘Salmon Fishing in the Yemen’ is none of those three.