Lasse Hallström’s Salmon Fishing in the Yemen brought its memorably strange title to the Toronto International Film Festival last September and left with some outstanding reviews. Now, as the comedy-drama gears up for a March 2012 release, CBS Films and Lionsgate have unveiled a playfully uplifting new trailer on Yahoo Movies. We’ve posted it below and you can head over there to see it in HD:



As you can see, Hallström’s picture – working from a Simon Beaufoy adaptation of Paul Torday’s novel – finds uptight Ewan McGregor swimming “against the stream” in order to help beautiful Emily Blunt establish a salmon fishing industry in the Middle East. It looks as crazy as it sounds, but if any woman’s capable of making a man attempt something so crazy, it’s Blunt.

But Hallström, who helmed the wistful Chocolat and the sentimental Cider House Rules, surrounds his leads with rock-solid support from Kristin Scott Thomas and Amr Waked as the Middle Eastern fisherman who’d like McGregor to have a little faith in his ridiculous project. The teaser does a fine job of setting up the hopeful tone. I could do without the Coldplay (that is Coldpay, right?), as that’s an easy target for the heartstrings, but as The Adjustment Bureau taught us, Blunt can conjure radiant chemistry with virtually any leading man, so Yemen officially has caught my eye.

The picture has targeted a March 2, 2012 release date. Does this trailer make you want to see it, or run for the hills?