--- title: "Ishtar: the reviews" canonical: "https://film.one/film/ishtar/reviews" title_page: "https://film.one/film/ishtar" critics_score: 62 critics_reviews: 12 licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Ishtar (1987): what the critics said Critics' score 62 from 12 reviews: 8 positive, 1 mixed, 3 negative. Most critics here lean towards affection for Ishtar, finding more comic purpose in its inept heroes than its reputation suggests. Praise clusters around the deliberately terrible songs, the stars’ willingness to look foolish and Elaine May’s treatment of male vanity and friendship. Several reviews also find a pointed satire of American foreign policy beneath the farce. The warmer assessments value the small observations and the sympathy extended to two talentless singers with stubborn ambitions. The spread is wide, however, and the disagreements reach beyond whether every joke works. Some sympathetic reviews concede unevenness, while Collider finds that the political intrigue muddles the story. Time Out rejects the central casting and finds the script unfunny; RogerEbert.com describes lifeless performances and credits Charles Grodin alone with supplying laughs. The divide is sharpest over the leads: their ineptitude reads as committed character comedy to admirers and failed comic performance to detractors. ## Los Angeles Times — Sheila Benson Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 15 May 1987. It is a smart, generous, genuinely funny affair and a drolly funny comedy of character and observation with an astute vision of life. The performances, songs and details are singled out for praise. [Read the review](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-05-15-ca-5001-story.html) ## Sight and Sound — Brad Stevens Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 23 April 2017. The critic praises Ishtar as a misunderstood comedy that critiques American foreign policy and parodies male narcissism, which explains its initial rejection. It singles out the humorous scenes in which the female revolutionary manipulates the male leads' egos. [Read the review](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/features/ishtar-elaine-may-road-not-taken) ## The AV Club — Mike D'Angelo Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 12 May 2020. The critic argues Ishtar's notorious reputation as a disaster is undeserved, calling it uneven but often hilarious and recognizably the work of Elaine May. He singles out the deliberately terrible songs and the stars' full commitment to playing inept characters for praise. [Read the review](https://www.avclub.com/ishtar-the-ultimate-hollywood-punchline-is-actually-p-1843345655) ## The New York Times — Janet Maslin Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 15 May 1987. It is a likable, good-humored hybrid of small funny moments and oversized spectacle, not a disaster like Heaven's Gate despite the hype around its cost and production. [Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/1987/05/15/movies/film-hoffman-and-beatty-in-elaine-may-s-ishtar.html) ## Slant Magazine Fi1m's normalised score 30/100 (inferred from the text). 2 August 2013. The review notes that Ishtar was reviled on arrival but now appeals to revisionist cinephiles, allowing a fresh look at Elaine May's directorial effort. It highlights the film's troubled production and lack of special features on the Blu-ray while acknowledging its cult status. [Read the review](https://www.slantmagazine.com/dvd/ishtar/) ## Time Out — EP Fi1m's normalised score 30/100 (inferred from the text). 10 September 2012. The critic calls the film so bad it could almost be deliberate, with fatal miscasting of Hoffman and Beatty and an unfunny script. It singles out the premise of the talentless duo as spies for opposing sides as the core of its absurd plot. [Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/ishtar) ## RogerEbert.com — Roger Ebert Fi1m's normalised score 10/100 (inferred from the text). 15 May 1987. The critic calls it a truly dreadful, lifeless film with a thin plot and exhausted performances from its stars. Only Charles Grodin supplies laughs as the CIA man. [Read the review](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/ishtar-1987) ## /Film — Jeremy Smith Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 8 August 2026. Ishtar is a brilliantly silly comedy sabotaged by its studio; the critic singles out the first act's cringe-inducing songwriting scenes and the hilariously chaotic desert shootout for praise. [Read the review](https://www.slashfilm.com/2231229/dustin-hoffman-legendary-box-office-flop-adventure-movie-ishtar/) ## Paste — Hafsah Abbasi Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 10 June 2024. The critic views the film as a sharp, metatextual satire that balances farce, empathy, and critique of ambition and geopolitics. They single out May's handling of the two talentless singers' delusional dreams and their entanglement in political machinations for particular praise. [Read the review](https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/elaine-may/ishtar-elaine-may-dustin-hoffman-warren-beatty-geopolitics) ## The Skinny — Philip Concannon Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 15 February 2019. The critic defends Ishtar against its notorious reputation, calling it a goofy and frequently inspired buddy comedy whose failure unfairly ended May's directing career. He highlights its freewheeling improvisatory rhythm and energy as part of May's broader skewering of male ego and friendship. [Read the review](https://www.theskinny.co.uk/film/cineskinny/opinion/elaine-may-retrospective-gff-2019) ## Collider — Patrick Cooper Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 23 September 2013. The critic calls it a worthy, bizarrely unique comedy ahead of its time that holds up better today, elevated by Hoffman and Beatty's charming friendship and deadpan performances. They single out the convoluted plot involving political intrigue as a weakness that muddles the story. [Read the review](https://collider.com/ishtar-blu-ray-review/) ## The Playlist — The Playlist Staff Fi1m's normalised score 65/100 (inferred from the text). 8 August 2013. Ishtar is discussed as one of the biggest flops of all time that became a byword for Hollywood turkey, but recent reevaluations suggest it is ripe for appreciation of its merits amid production woes. [Read the review](https://theplaylist.net/retrospective-the-directorial-career-of-elaine-may-20130808/) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/ishtar.md