What is it that makes people laugh? The British love “Monty Python”, the French absolutely adore Jerry Lewis (“The Bellboy”) and the Americans somehow cherish their “Saturday Night Live”. “Looking For Comedy In The Muslim World” shows us just how hard it can be to understand the sense of humour of others.

Comedy actor Albert Brooks (“Defending Your Life”, “Broadcast News”) stars as himself in this film where he is recruited by the American government to go on a fact-finding mission to learn what makes Muslims laugh. His work takes him to India (despite being mainly Hindu, they have over 150 million Muslims) and Pakistan as he tries to complete a lengthy report.

Albert Brooks not only stars in this film but he wrote and directed it to. He takes a few shots at his career and his level of fame. A recurring joke is that nobody he interviews during his study has any clue who he is. Brooks gives a really good performance as a guy that is enthusiastic about his new work despite not having a clue of where to begin. Sheetal Sheth (“The World Is Unseen”) is really funny as Maya, who is hired to be Brooks’ assistant. She also has an aggressive Iranian boyfriend.

The title is misleading. It could have easily been shortened to just “Looking For Comedy” because it’s not really about Islam. It’s a satirical piece about cultural barriers and celebrity status. It would have worked just as well had it been about Brooks venturing to China, Russia or any other distant land. It’s not a movie that everybody will like but I think it is a clever and interesting film. There are plenty of jokes about Indian call centres other similar topics but beneath the surface level stuff, there is some truly fascinating commentary about the relationship between culture and comedy.