Albert Brooks is sent by the US government to India on a mission to find out what makes muslims laugh. Why India? Yes there's a lot of muslims there but most of the people Brooks meet seems to be Hindus. No matter what they are they don't think he's funny. And he isn't. Not in this movie.

Initially, most of the jokes are based on how badly planned his trip was. He gets to fly business class instead of first class. Nobody comes to pick him up at the airport so he has to take a cab. His office is small and has no computer, etc. Funny? After that, there is a slightly amusing scene where he has a conversation with his secretary, Maya, and they don't know when the other is joking or not. "Was that a joke?". According to his plans, he was supposed to go to Pakistan, but he doesn't get a visa, so he has to cross the border illegally in order to spend a couple of hours there with some would be comedians. This makes Indian and Pakistani intelligence agents suspicious, and there's almost a political conflict. Brooks realises he has failed and goes is sent back to the US. The End. His wife, unaware of his failure, thinks he's a big hero. The political subplot about the conflict Brooks almost caused, is tied up by means of on-screen text before the closing credits. The main plot also goes nowhere. I'm not sure what Brooks tried to do with this movie. It's not laugh-out-loud funny, and it doesn't work as a dark comedy nor as a satire. Unfortunately, with this movie, real-life Brooks ends up like on-screen Brooks: trying, but failing, to be funny. "Is that the joke?". I'll never know.

So what we have here is a movie with no real laughs and a premise that could be funny, but goes nowhere. Too bad, really, because I expected this movie to be much better. Not recommended to waste money on.

In an inspired cinematic premise, especially in these times, Albert Brooks plays himself as a comedian asked to find out what makes a large portion of the world laugh.

Of course, execution of this concept leaves a bit to be desired, but it does have its fairly funny moments, especially in the opening moments, when Brooks aspires to be the lead in a remake of "Harvey." He fails to impress the director (Penny Marshall) with his desire to be "the new Jimmy Stewart," and Marshall's phony, "I liked your work in 'The In-Laws'" doesn't help his ego, either.

At home, he receives a letter from the State Department asking for him to be part of a special commission deigned to found out what Muslims construe as comedy. He goes to Washington DC, meets former Tennessee senator Fred Dalton Thompson (TV's "Law & Order"), and agrees to travel to India and Pakistan to see what makes the population laugh (despite his assignment to write a 500-page report on the topic).

He leaves his lovely wife, Amy Ryan ("Capote," 'War of the Worlds") and cute-as-a-button daughter, Laura (Emma Lockhart, "Batman Begins") for a month's adventure - not for money, but for the opportunity to be awarded the Medal of Freedom ("the nice one - with the colored ribbon").

Brooks makes the point some might bring up that India is basically a Hindi country, although over 100 million Muslims reside there (also, it's doubtful Brooks, as a Jew, would have been welcome in some of the more militant Middle Eastern countries).

Anyway, Brooks soon begins his patented celebrity whining on the flight to New Dehli, as he and his two State Department escorts, Stuart (John Carroll Lynch, "Gothika") and Mark (Jon Tenney, TV's "The Closer") are forced to fly economy class, and are then stuck in a rundown office. During these interior office scenes, Brooks keeps passing a roomful of phone operators ("There are two spin cycles on that machine," "Welcome to the William Morris Agency," "This is the White House, how may I direct your call") in another funny bit.

After hiring a lovely Indian woman, Maya (Sheetal Sheth), Brooks begins asking people on the street what makes them laugh. He is given answers from "I don't know," to "I don't speak English and please don't touch me," to a long and involved joke about being happy and laughing. Not garnering anything from this effort, Brooks decides to put on a comedy concert for about 300 Indians. This segment is pretty funny, as well, as few in the audience understand the comedian's humor (he tells a lame Halloween "Gandhi" joke, does a really bad ventriloquist act and the old "changing the improve" bit) and have little or no reaction to it.

Later, he sneaks into Pakistan and does the same routine for a group of stoned "budding comedians" who do not speak English (it's a huge success), accidentally starts an armed conflict between the two countries and is offered a part as a Hebrew man who moves into a mostly Muslim apartment complex in the inaugural situation comedy from al-Jazeera, "That Darn Jew."

The bottom line of this movie is that Muslims really don't laugh a whole lot, especially if the jokes are not funny (I guess that could be said of most anyone)and they do not get the subject. It could have been even more biting and daring, but I suppose Brooks (who wrote and directed, as well) didn't want to rock the boat too much.

I've liked most of Brooks' work (he was great in "Broadcast News" and deserved the Oscar; and "Defending Your Life," "Lost In America" and "Real Life" were terrific films), and while some jokes fall pretty flat here (as does the weak subplot of Maya and her Iranian boyfriend), this is still pretty decent work.

Yeah, I would have liked to have seen him do his stand-up in Iran, Jordan, Kuwait, Egypt or even Saudi Arabia, but I understand his reasoning (sort of). Plus, I laughed more often than not, so, as a comedy, it did its job, at least in my opinion.

***Some very light spoilers***

While this is not as good as Albert Brooks' Lost in America, it does contain enough witty observations and funny characters to make it worth seeing. Brooks plays a character he has played before, namely a man who reacts to situations. The premise of the movie is quite good: The US State Department want to find out what makes Muslims tick(or laugh if you prefer) and send our reluctant hero to India and Pakistan to observe and write a 500 page report(if he can also find out what makes Hindus laugh, even better). Two "suits" from the State Department accompany him to "help" handle whatever problems he may have. Obviously the setup here is for these clowns to make his life difficult. Some of this does happen but it is not developed enough to make them memorable characters. Once in India, Brooks must hire a local assistant to help him. This leads to probably the best part of the film (certainly one of the funniest) when he interviews potential candidates. I won't spoil the fun here but let us just say that the "suits" did not screen the candidates too thoroughly. The assistant he does hire is easily the most interesting character of the film. Played by Sheetal Sheth as an eager ready to please assistant who really, really wants to learn, she outshines all the others in this film. Many gags follow as they try and find out what people find funny. the humor is really full of throwaway bits (the call center gags come to mind) as well as some great visual gags (the Taj Mahal gag had me laughing out loud). A lot of the humor is at Albert Brooks character's expense so , as far as I'm concerned, the film does not take itself very seriously(The whole meeting with representatives of Al Jezeera is quite good). Many times a situation is not developed to its potential leaving the viewer a little perplexed. The end is a perfect example. They built up the situation in the last 20 minutes or so and just when we are about to have a payoff, they rush the ending and give us a very limited payoff. Overall, I would still recommend the film, just go in knowing that this is a satire and enjoy.