Director: Lasse Hallstron
Cast: Ewan McGregor, Emily Blunt, Kristin Scott Thomas, Amr Waked, Tom Mison, Rachael Stirling, Conleth Hill
Rating: (M)
4 stars (out of 5)
Now it has been turned into a movie with a more attractive cast than you might have envisaged from the book. Salmon Fishing in the Yemen (Rialto and Hoyts) takes Torday's base premise of a Yemeni sheikh (Amr Waked) with oodles of oil money who decides to manufacture a salmon stream in Yemen. Fishery expert Dr Alfred Jones (Ewan McGregor) is called upon for his expertise and he dismisses it out of hand. The salmon live in Scotland where it is cold and rains a lot.
Yemen is hot and has no rain, ergo it cannot be done. Well, it turns out that if you go into the mountains, Yemen has rain. The sheikh's money goes a long way towards creating whatever else is needed and the British Government needs a good-news story from the Middle East so making a home for salmon in Yemen becomes a goer.
Alfred is reluctantly seconded to the project but quickly becomes a convert. A comely new colleague, Harriet (Emily Blunt), a member of the sheikh's management team, makes the assignment pleasant and staid old Alfred is off on the adventure of a lifetime.
Best thing: Kristin Scott Thomas buzzes in and out as the prime minister's micro-managing head press secretary - a role she so obviously relishes that we look forward to her every wicked move.
Worst thing: A bit too charming and glossy for its own good at times.
See it without: a lifelong love of fly-fishing, otherwise you will only be fretting over the actors' fly-casting technique or lack of one.
- Written by Christine Powley.
