Salmon Fishing in the Yemen

A handful of curious Brits become literal fish out of water as they become mixed up in the dream project of an eccentric sheikh in this satiric comedy. Dr. Alfred Jones (Ewan McGregor) is a scientist specializing in establishing fisheries who is muddling through a midlife crisis and a marriage that's going sour when he's approached by Patricia Maxwell (Kristin Scott Thomas) with an unusual proposition. Maxwell works for the Prime Minister of Yemen, and in tandem with a remarkably wealthy sheikh (Amr Waked), he wants to introduce sport fishing to the Middle East as a way to promote better international relations. Jones isn't interested at first, but between Maxwell's aggressive enthusiasm and the beauty of Harriet Chetwode-Talbot (Emily Blunt), a lovely businesswoman hired by the sheikh to make his dream a reality, he changes his mind and sets out to create a fully stocked lake in the midst of a desert. As Jones takes on a project that ranks somewhere between ridiculous and impossible, he also finds he's falling in love with Chetwode-Talbot, though the matter of him being married and her having a boyfriend (Tom Mison) makes things sticky. Based on the best selling novel by Paul Torday, Salmon Fishing In The Yemen received its world premiere at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival.