A sheik wants to introduce northern European salmon to Yemen. Adaptation of the bestselling novel by Ewan McGregor and Emily Blunt.

Picture gallery

The fishing and salmon expert Dr. Alfred Jones thinks it’s a bad joke when he gets an email from a Londoner firm representing a Yemenite sheik who dreams of salmon fishing in the waters of his homeland. Although money is no object and the British government is interested in improving relations with the Middle East, Harriet Chetwode-Talbot, the publicist of the British Prime minister, has a hard time convincing the shy scientist to take on the project. When he finally does, local opposition in Yemen to Scottish salmon in the desert is fierce. Meanwhile, Jones and Chetwode-Talbot start to fall for each other.

Whether Lasse Hallström adapts novels by John Irving or Nicholas Sparks, whether it's a about Casanova or a sad story of a dog - in the end it's always a Lasse Hallström movie. Salmon Fishing in the Yemen is another one of these harmless and cute movies geared towards romantics, with lots of schmaltz and imposing images. The political satire of the original novel gets a little lost, but at least Emily Blunt, Ewan McGregor and Kristin Scott Thomas are talented enough to make more of the material.