Ishtar (film)

Ishtar (film)

Ishtar is a 1987 American comedy written and directed by Elaine May in a production of Warren Beatty, who co-starred with Dustin Hoffman. They play a duo of incredibly untalented American lounge singers who travel to a booking in Morocco and stumble into a four-party Cold War standoff.

Shot on location in Morocco and New York City by Cinematographer Vittorio Storaro, the production drew media attention before its release for substantial cost overruns on top of a lavish budget, and reports of clashes between director, producer, and cinematographer. A change in studio management at Columbia Pictures during post-production also led to professional and personal difficulties that undermined the film's release.

Despite its problems, the film opened to mixed reviews, but still became a notorious failure at the box office. Janet Maslin, in The New York Times, wrote "The worst of it is painless; the best is funny, sly, cheerful and, here and there, even genuinely inspired", while Roger Ebert called it "truly dreadful". As of 2012, it has been released on DVD only in Europe.