People are voting emotionally.

Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

Absolutely the worst movie.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

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.

McGregor plays stuffy government employee Dr. Alfred Jones, forced by his boss to pursue the dubious plan of introducing salmons in Yemen. The plan is encouraged as a PR stunt, to prove that good relations between the UK and the Middle East are not impossible.Therefore, Dr. Jones unwillingly cooperates with Harriet (played by Emily Blunt) and gets to know the Yemenite sheik (Amr Waked) who is willing to invest lots of money to fulfil his dream. Scott Thomas plays the hilariously insufferable Press Secretary to the British Prime Minister. Romance ensues, but with some hindrance along the way.Luckily, no knowledge of fishing is required to follow the story. McGregor and Blunt have chemistry. Scott Thomas and Amr Waked are excellent supporting actors and the movie is simply delightful. A rarity nowadays.

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

Well, this is an okay movie. Somehow, in my individual opinion, it involved too much love. I expect this to be a more practical one.About the storyline, it is averagely acceptable. As I know, this is too based on a novel with the same name by Paul Torday, I guess the novel did its job better with the storyline. I mean, people would misunderstanding its purpose that it is a romantic movie or salmons? Yes, salmons and Yemen. I would prefer salmon and Yemen. But then, I just have to accept the fact that it is in the categories of Comedy, Drama and Romance.And the characters, I do not blame the actors and actresses, Emily and Kristin are great but their characters are not. Their thoughts and feelings change rapidly. I blame the movie's time structure. I keep asking why while watching: How so? How does that coming? Wt*? In total, this movie is quite flat, not very inspiring, but it kept me watching till the end so I guess it's worth the time and energy. Anw, rated 6/10, quite reasonable, it could had been 5, but I'm being generous, thanks to the director and the novel by Paul Torday.