Directed by Elaine May • 1987 • United States
Starring Warren Beatty, Dustin Hoffman, Isabelle Adjani

Once synonymous with “box-office bomb,” this unjustly maligned road-movie comedy from national treasure Elaine May has been on a steady path to critical respectability ever since its disastrous premiere. Viewed today, May’s satire—an ’80s update of the popular Bing Crosby and Bob Hope vehicles—about a pair of talentless lounge singers (played against type by Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman) swept up in Middle Eastern political intrigue can be appreciated as an endearingly goofy, often hilarious lark that never should have cut short the director’s brilliant career.