Salmon Fishing In The Yemen (2012)

A rather stuffy bureaucrat (Ewan McGregor) in the fish and wildlife department of the British government is assigned to assist a wealthy Arab sheik (Amr Waked) in his dream of introducing salmon fishing to his desert country. Though married, he finds himself attracted to the sheik's British representative (Emily Blunt) whose solider fiance (Tom Mison) is missing in action in Afghanistan. Despite its awkward sounding title, this is a romantic comedy. But it's not your run of the mill romcom. As directed by Lasse Hallstrom (MY LIFE AS A DOG), it's intelligent, well written and often witty. How many romantic comedies do you know that include terrorism, the Afghanistan war and political assassination? There's a wonderfully acidic comedic performance by Kristin Scott Thomas as a tough talking, manipulative public relations conscious assistant to the Prime Minister which is a gender switch from the book where the character is male. Based on the novel of the same name by Paul Torday. The score is by Oscar winner Dario Marianelli (ATONEMENT). With Rachel Stirling as McGregor's wife.