Hope, Faith and Love in Yemen

Salmon Fishing in Yemen is really not a movie about fishing. It's a romantic comedy about hope, faith and love in the midst of a contemporary fairy-tale setting. Screenwriter Simon Beaufoy (Slumdog Millionaire) adpated the novel by Paul Torday (I heard the book is pretty good too) into a 'delicious' big-screen comedy.

I don't think anybody could resist the charms of both Emily Blunt and Ewan McGregor. The former plays what she does best - the lovely girl next door - and the latter plays an inflexible fisheries geek with a heavy Scottish accent. But the most entertaining role in the entire flick was given to the adorable Kristin Scott Thomas who is the extremely bossy and controlling press secretary to the British Prime Minister.

While I marvel at another of Thomas's masterpiece, I can't help but lament why public relations professionals are once again being ridiculed. From Wag The Dog to Game Change to this movie, public relations practitioners are presented as calculating, manipulative and controlling SOBs. A former colleague of mine challenged me last night over drinks that The Ides of March was an exception. Well, I don't think painting a bad picture of the media necessarily improves the perception of the public relations profession.

Ewan McGregor and Emily Blunt have the perfect chemistry in the movie although the two actors have not met before. Tom Mison who plays Blunt's boyfriend in the film may be more handsome, but McGregor's charisma and endearing Scottish accent just enable him to outshine everybody else.

Swedish director Lasse Hallstrom (The Cider House Rules, Chocolat) has done a fabulous job in making a complex story so appealing and entertaining - life is all about hope, faith and love when you strip down all the racial prejudices and biases, political manipulations and dramas, and even terrorism. This could be a story in Yemen, or it could be happening anywhere else in this world. Extra brownie points to Hallstrom who has the good taste to marry Lena Olin!