So, last night, the event happened: the previously unscreened director’s cut of “Ishtar” was shown (the rumor I heard is that it’s shorter than the released version of the film), the people (some of ...

Better late than never for the release, yesterday, of the Blu-ray of Elaine May’s “Ishtar.” It’s especially appropriate to say so because “better late than never” is more or less the subject of the ...

The 1987 film “Ishtar” has long held a cultural status much larger than that of just a single movie, as shorthand for the utter worst, an epochal flop with audiences and critics alike and a huge ...

Elaine May’s 1987 flop, “Ishtar,” might well be the most accomplished punching bag in cinematic history. The reasons aren’t hard to figure out, but are almost too numerous to name. Well before the ...

When is a big-budget cinematic comedy also a punchline itself? When that comedy is Ishtar, the notorious box-office bomb that became the literal poster child for expensive Hollywood flops. Released in ...

It was the popularity of that song which catapulted Ishtar back into the Israeli public’s consciousness, some 20 years after she left her homeland for France. Earlier this month she sang with Peretz ...

Elaine May's comedy Ishtar is remembered more for its tremendous financial failings than its actual content. Even causal cinephiles know the name Ishtar simply because of its infamous reputation as ...