Essabet El Dr. Omar (AKA Dr. Omar’s Gang) was the first Arabic film I ever saw, and although I saw it on a crammed airplane screen, I found it was laugh-out-loud funny!
“Essabet El Dr. Omar takes us back to when comedy wasn’t all satire.”
The Rundown
Behind the name: Also known as—Dr. Omar's Gang
Country: Egypt, 2008
Genre: Comedy
Distributed by: Almassa
Director: Ali Adris
Cast: Mostafa Amar, Yasmin Abdel Aziz, Edward, Mohamed Sharaf, Khaled Sarhan
Compare to: Hareem Kareem, 1/8 Daset Ashrar
Hate it or Love it? Love it
Synopsis in a Sentence: Dr. Omar comes back to Egypt with an international degree and employs strange tactics to his psychiatric patients: amongst them is a kleptomaniac woman who falls for him, and somehow they get involved in theft.
On Writing: The Plot
The plot is good, with cases of mistaken identities and intentions while bringing the difficulties faced by a kleptomaniac into light. The comedy is straightforward, not forced, but just slightly overdone. Most interestingly, there’s a story to this one. And you’ll find yourself laughing as the plot progresses.
(4/5)
On Acting: The Cast
There are real characters in this one. Most of them in 3D.
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Yasmin Abdel Aziz takes on her animated, comedic self in this movie, through the climax and tragedy and comedy. She plays her character well.
All the other actors adopt the character of “first comedy” like in the old days, where gesture and body language were controlled to make you laugh. In this post-modern, satiric stage of comedy, it may either come across as annoyingly fake or appreciatively authentic.
(3/5)
On Production: The Creativity
It’s a good mix. There’s music, but not elongated, Bollywood-style scores. The comedy is complemented by a few shots of tragedy, and thankfully, there’s a real story to it. Wardrobe is as you’d expect it to be, and the cameras do what they’re supposed to do. So overall, it’s quite good.
(3/5)
On Resolution: The Conclusion
It ends well, as a comedy should. After a fair bit of laughs, there’s tragedy and betrayal and “action” and suspense and more smiles.
(3.5/5)
The Verdict: Comedic.
Overall Score = 13.5/20
See Dr. Omar’s Gang
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