Starring Bill Murray, Bruce Willis, Scott Caan, Zooey Deschanel, Leem Lubany; Kate Hudson; directed by Barry Levinson; 100 minutes; R for language including sexual references, some drug use and brief violence.

“Safe as milk.” That’s the phrase used by the yahoo weapons merchant played by Danny McBride as he describes a transaction involving guns and ammo, conveyed to Pashtun rebel forces in Afghanistan. His unlikely go-between in this desert landscape: Richie Lanz, the visiting L.A. talent manager portrayed by the great Bill Murray in the not-good “Rock the Kasbah.”

“Safe as milk” also describes the film itself. On the other hand, star vehicles this rickety have a way of making the world unsafe for comic democracy. Director Barry Levinson’s latest picture was partly inspired by the true story of Setara Hussainzada (name-checked in the closing credits, though her equivalent character in “Rock the Kasbah” is fictional). In 2007, Hussainzada competed on the popular TV show “Afghan Star,” similar to our own “American Idol.” She risked death threats for singing and dancing on the show. At one point, she allowed her head scarf to fall to her shoulders. The chances she took, and the turns her post-TV life took as a result, informed the documentary “Afghan Star” and a more recent half-hour HBO documentary titled “Silencing the Song.”

“Rock the Kasbah” has other plans. It’s Murray’s show, in addition to being a white-savior showbiz fable of a particularly dubious and retrograde variety. Richie is a fabrication, for the record. He’s also oddly dull company, considering the actor.

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune