Jimmy Vestvood: Amerikan Hero

Nowadays, you don't connect comedy and Iran in the same sentence, but in "Jimmy Vestvood, Amerikan Hero", it's more than permissible - it's necessary. It's a very funny comedy in a contemporary landscape of juvenile attempts at humor which appeal to the audiences lower instincts. This picture, on the other hand, is genuinely funny via a clever screenplay. It capitalizes on its characters naivete and lack of background in the English language and American customs, resulting in several very funny exchanges between Iranians vs. Americans and, in some cases, Iranians vs. Iranians. In truth, the humor is uneven, but it is tough to maintain a high level of humor throughout a full length feature. But "Jimmy Vestvood" tries.

A quick summary; Our hero wins a lottery and comes to America with his mother. He wants to be a Private Eye like his idol, Steve McQueen, but is quickly mistaken for a jihadist. Meanwhile, he is hired by a U.S. Senator as a bagman for a payoff to an enemy agent for weapons to a foreign country to start a war. Got it so far? Doesn't matter - confusion is part of the fun, so just go with our hero (Maz Jobrani), who is brilliantly funny in a way that Sasha Baron Cohen ("Borat") tries to be. Jobrani, however, succeeds and is funnier. Sound like a good movie? Too bad, it's already gone from the NYC area. It deserved a better fate as it's the best comedy I've seen so far this year, better than "The Nice Guys".