Fridae

If you've never read the original novel by Paul Torday that's also called

Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, you'd never realise how much you're missing in the film adaptation. Perhaps letting his experience of directing schmaltzy romantic films get the better of him, Lasse Hallstrom's adaptation is a feat of literary plastic surgery. Utilising his skills and experience, Hallstrom transforms a pointed political comedy into a romantic comedy while retaining the same characters, settings, and premise.

That said, the romantic comedy bit is done right. For the most part, a fan of romcoms wouldn't mind seeing sexy Ewan McGregor polish his Scottish brogue while capturing the heart of Emily Blunt (decked in a series of stunning dresses!) via a concatenation of increasingly improbable but genre-adhering plot developments. Much of the film relies on the destined screen couple falling for each other despite his natural disdain for what appears to be a really crazy project (i.e. a pilot project to introduce salmon in the Yemen) that's only being considered because of the wealth of its sponsor, and her not unjustified disgust at a misanthrope who believes that being in the right also accords the privilege of being nasty to those in the wrong. But wait till they get to the Yemen and fall in love with each other courtesy of the hospitality the really nice sheik who wants to be able to fish in the highlands of Yemen!

As a straight romcom, the script practically writes itself effortlessly and without any margin for error. Much of the film feels like Hallstrom decided to take no risks and go through the motions while leaving the important work to his cinematographer and the naturally beautiful filming locations in Scotland and Morocco (both standing for Yemen!). But I fear Hallstrom misses the point of his source material. It's meant to be a biting satire of rule by spin doctors in the UK. More importantly, it's a parody of old school colonial adventures where a plucky, unassuming, taciturn Brit goes abroad, links up with a smolderingly hot and single Oxford educated local chief who speaks the King's English (here played by Amr Waked in his best impersonation of a young Ben Kingsley) to bring a piece of British civilization to the sullen, uncomprehending savages in his domain.

Certainly all the ingredients for a wicked political comedy are still there in this film, buried under a surfeit of maudlin romcom tweeness that Kristin Scott Thomas occasionally punctures, probably because she has either read the book or seen the script's comic potential. If perchance you watch this film and find it to be far funnier in spite of itself, it's probably because you're deconstructing it as a political satire in spite of Hallstrom's determination to beat his material into the romcom genre.