Relax. The title is meant to provoke a “Huh? What?” That’s the reaction of fisheries expert Dr. Alfred Jones (Ewan McGregor) when PR consultant Harriet Chetwode-Talbot (Emily Blunt) tells him that billionaire Sheikh Muhammad (a wonderful Amr Waked) wants to bring fly-fishing to the desert – damn the cost! The British prime minister sees the crazy idea of shipping 10,000 North Atlantic salmon to Yemen as a ploy to distract from the nasty business in the Middle East. He enlists his hardassed spokeswoman, Patricia Maxwell (an irresistibly bossy Kristin Scott Thomas), to make it happen. That she does. This is a rich subject for satire and sticking it to political bureaucracy. Screenwriter Simon Beaufoy (127 Hours) has mined Paul Torday’s book for delicious nuggets about Western capitalism at war with Muslim culture. Director Lasse Hallström clearly appreciates Sheikh Muhammad’s dream of using salmon fishing to unite the people of  Yemen across barriers of sect and class. Some might object to the Chocolat sweetness Hallström brings to the unlikely romance between the married Dr. Jones and the engaged Ms. Chetwode-Talbot. But McGregor and Blunt have charm to spare and the no-bull instinct to cut to the heart of a scene. In the Dead Sea of Hollywood formula, their film is a distinct delight, brimming over with spirit and surprise.

“Is It True”

As the British Invasion reached its peak in 1964, Brenda Lee went from Nashville to London to record one of her hardest-rocking hits, her perky vocal backed by a stuttering, squalling guitar. That guitar was played by session musician Jimmy Page, yet to skyrocket to fame with first the Yardbirds and then Led Zeppelin. "She said to me, 'I've come here to make a record with the British sound,'" remembered producer Mickie Most. "She felt she wouldn't get the same sound in Nashville because they're only just catching up on the British beat group sound of about six months ago."