Film + TV

Watch the mockumentary trailer for Bill Murray's new movie

by Richard Howard

2015’s been a quiet year for beloved Rad-Dad actor Bill Murry; his only film appearance so far has been the critical and box-office disaster Aloha. (Thankfully, nobody saw it and he wasn’t on the poster so he avoided that shit storm – sorry, Bradley Cooper).  Now, his legion of fans are hoping that his other offering for the year, Rock The Kasbah, will deliver some classic comedic Murray. Our first glimpse of the movie is promising but, as early trailers tend to be, less than definitive. Perhaps more notable is its clever presentation: the trailer takes the form of a spoof of the popular VH1 documentary series Behind The Music.

Rock The Kasbah is the story of has-been rock manager Richie Lanz (Murray) who, despite being number one in his heyday, is now all but forgotten. On a trip to Afghanistan for his last remaining client’s USO tour, he discovers a young girl with the voice of a star through the country’s version of American Idol and decides to become her manager. Bruce Willis, Zooey Deschanel, Kate Hudson and Danny McBride also appear in the film.

The mockumentary style trailer, titled Richie Lanz: The Man and the Music, uses footage from the movie (including interviews with real-life music stars) to simulate the feel of the tell-all Behind The Music series. Special touches include using the actual narrator from the VH1 series and Lanz being interviewed  for Crawdaddy! magazine by Mitch Glazer (who wrote the movie and actually was a writer for the rock magazine in the ’70s). The last time Glazer and Murray worked together was on 1988’s Scrooged, so there’s a good chance fans may get the old-school Murray they’re hoping for.