Lyle and Chuck are two dim-witted and talentless singer-songwriters struggling to get work in NYC. When they get booked to play a gig in a Moroccan hotel, they somehow become pawns in an international power play between the CIA, the Emir of Ishtar, and the rebels trying to overthrow his regime.

A legendary flop that ended the career of its director, Elaine May’s screwball bromance has been reevaluated and reclaimed as the great, delightfully disjointed comedy that it is. May’s few films were routinely treated poorly by their studios—but her brilliance has weathered those weak doubts.