'Rock the Kasbah': Does Bill Murray need a career reboot?

Bill Murray in Rock the Kasbah

After his wonderfully droll performance in Wes Anderson's Rushmore, comedy icon Bill Murray enjoyed one of the great second acts in movie history. Most comic actors often don't age well on screen. But Murray broke the mold, finding new, more dramatic shades to his persona while maintaining his unpredictable edge.

There have been missteps to be sure in the last 18 years, but he has given performances that rank among his career best in films like Lost In Translation (2003) and Broken Flowers (2005).

For me, he's become someone whose work I will almost always pay to see, in part because of the good will and affection he's built up for me as a performer over the years but also because, despite the fact that Murray is now 65, I still think he has an all-time great performance left in him.

When I first saw trailers for Rock the Kasbah, I thought that it could potentially be that movie. It seems like a wild premise (Murray plays an aging rock promoter stranded in Afghanistan) that could spark some of that old antic Murray energy.

Unfortunately, Rock the Kasbah isn't that movie. It's not nearly as terrible as some of the early reviews would have you believe, but it's also not a game-changer for Murray. It's not as uproariously funny as his best work, the tone is jarringly inconsistent and although the film deserves praise for not vilifying its Afghan characters, it doesn't really have a compelling message for audiences either.

It's a real missed opportunity since the director, Barry Levinson, has made a terrific political satire in the past  -- Wag the Dog -- a movie that was both funny and compelling. It's not that Rock the Kasbah is an abomination, it just isn't up to Murray's standards.

This is the challenging issue for Murray. He's in icon territory now. He can kill it in a cameo in Zombieland or the new Ghostbusters, but when he puts his name above the title, his fans expect comedy classics. This is due in part because of his now legendary position that he doesn't have an agent and if filmmakers want to reach him they must try their luck with an 800 number that he periodically checks while at home.

Murray still has a hipness factor and box office appeal, so Hollywood is willing to jump through these hoops. But his taste doesn't seem to be discerning at times. This is a man who made not one but two animated Garfield movies. And yes, he made fun of those movies afterwards but how does he explain the critically reviled Aloha or the disappointing FDR film Hyde Park on Hudson.

What's promising is that Murray has shown a willingness to work with interesting filmmakers like Anderson, Sofia Coppola, Jim Jarmusch and recently, George Clooney. I would love to see him take on a role that is nothing like anything he's played before. Richie Lanz, the role he plays in Rock the Kasbah, is like an amalgam of self-centered goofballs he's played before. It would be fascinating to see him really bite into something that is genuinely out of character.

Because Hollywood's ageism doesn't effect male actors at all -- there's plenty of time. Robert Redford, Michael Keaton and a number of other great actors have totally rebooted their careers later in life after a series of forgettable roles.

Murray, of course, is nowhere near Nicolas Cage territory yet, but his fans probably deserve a little better.