To me, this movie is perfection.

The Worst Film Ever

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

it has the gift to seem be an Oriental fairy tale. or only a parable. about a strange dream, about a strange man, about a woman and about the new version of Harun al Rashid. and this status does it interesting. because Ewan McGregory does his best , because Kristin Scott Thomas does a real surprise in eccentric role, because Emily Blunt is the perfect nuance for define the picture. the old clichés makes story roll and the tension is almost refreshing. a film about fishing, salmon and Yemen. with few lovely sentimental embroideries. and moral lessons in perfect state. nothing new.or complicated. but seductive for British flavor, good Arab leader, miracle as result of ambition and frustration. and decent acting.

SALMON FISHING IN THE YEMEN is a throw-back to the bonkers-concepts Ealing films of the 1950s, with its story of a British government sponsored attempt to introduce fishing to the Yemen (not an obvious or easy choice). The pitch is that HMG wants some good Middle Eastern news for once - cue clichéd Western bleat about how we accidentally bombed some foreigners - so they get a hot civil servant, who doesn't seem to do any actual work, to team up with the cranky Scottish fishing expert - a typically bland Ewan McGregor - in order to make it work. Fair credit to the writer for turning a novel largely comprised of clippings from emails, diaries and letters into a comprehensible story but the problem is that it's kinda dull. The romance is predictable and passionless, the commentary on current affairs non-existent and the message is of the nice-but-naive lets-all-get-along sort. None of this is helped by rather flat direction. It's nice and undemanding in a Sunday teatime sort of way but feels like a missed chance for something funnier, more charming or incisive.

On too many occasions in films where two people who supposedly 'belong together' have partners already, the writers make the mistake of turning the 'destined couple's' existing squeezes into complete jerks... Sometimes, to the extent that we wonder how they got involved in the first place. Fortunately, SFITY sidesteps that problem by not making the soon-to-be old flames nice people, just incompatible for a long term relationship with the ones they're with. Although, Ewan McGregor's globetrotting wife saying after an underwhelming love-making session "That should hold you for a while" seems a pretty low blow.Speaking of McGregor, his character suffers from a certain condition in this film... and I can honestly say it's the best depiction I've seen of it on the Silver Screen. He's not got any 'special skills', is not a bumbling social retard and certainly understands most subtle facial nuances. He's just a little... obsessed with fish, and slightly nervous when meeting new people. The scene where Emily Blunt lives up to her surname and accuses him of lacking empathy by wanting to carry on with work while her soldier boyfriend is MIA, and then discovers McGregor only bought her round a cake to cheer her up is a thing of beauty, capped off nicely by the repentant hug she gives him afterwards. Finally, someone in the research dept. did their job. Someone throw that monkey a banana.Also of note is the portrayal of the sheik who is determined to realise his ambition of turning a barren part of the world into an oasis for anglers. He could have quite easily been a comedic caricature, but as played by Amr Waked is a warm, wonderful human being... VERY wealthy but humble to go with it. There aren't a huge amount of laughs to be had (Most of the jokes are mild political satire), but the main plot is always about McGregor and Blunt's blossoming friendship, and on this score they knock it out of the park. Good film, good messages but most of all, something else I thought I'd never see... 7/10

One of the most simple and sweet films comes from director Lasse Hallstrom called 'Salmon Fishing in the Yemen.' It stars Ewan McGregor as Dr.Alfred Jones, a consultant who is a fisheries expert who works with a woman named Harriet (Harriet) to help a Sheikh in The Middle East bring Salmon Fishing back. The two form a friendship and experience the culture of The Middle East as well as work with foreigners to help solve the problems such as pollution in the Yemen river. Ewan McGregor and Emily Blunt give simple performances that aren't worth talking about or are too special. The writing of the story by Simon Beaufoy is pretty good, and has a good story that isn't award worthy but provides a good time for audiences that want a simple story with a pretty interesting plot. Nothing here with wow you, buy you will appreciate the plot involving love, environmentalism ,and teamwork.