I am always excited when a movie I wanted to see in the theatre but never made it makes its way to Redbox or to stream.  And so it was Friday night when I picked up Salmon Fishing in the Yemen.  I wasn’t entirely sure of what to expect except that I like Emily Blunt, Ewan McGregor and adore Kristin Scott Thomas.  Add to that already wonderful cast a storyline that involves fly fishing in the desert and I’m game.  I put the DVD in, excuse me, the Blue Ray, and settled in to watch what I assumed was a romantic comedy.  It’s not exactly.  It’s not really a romantic drama either.  I saw where some critics called it a Romantic Comedy-Drama.  That really helps us know what to expect, right?

Kristin Scott Thomas is fantastically funny (in that wonderfully straight British way) as the Prime Minister’s press secretary.  She latches onto this ‘Anglo-Arab goodwill’ story as something to divert attention from the ever serious affair in Afghanistan.  Ewan McGregor’s character has Asperger’s and struggles to understand his work-focused wife, or how anyone could ever want to fish in the desert, as well as his growing feelings for the Emily Blunt character.

The social agenda is subtle (can’t we all get along?) and shouldn’t bother even the most seriously reluctant viewer of kumbaya movies.

So is it a good story?  Yes.  You can even spend the $4-$6 to stream it and not feel ‘taken’.