I watched this around the time it came out, and last saw it in 2008. As I mentioned in my review then, it borrows heavily from the Keystone Cops. It's got a healthy splash of old school slapstick. Despite being based on these ancient comedic ideas, it manages to put them to very fine use and end up being very funny indeed.

The movie starts out looking like a documentary about the Kalahari desert with a voice-over about the plants and animals there, and then gives us a few minutes mocking modern urban and office life, before finally getting us set up on our four wildly different plotlines. We have Xi (played by Nǃxau ǂToma), a member of the San tribe who knows nothing of the modern world, who is attempting to dispose of an evil Coca-Cola bottle that's caused strife in his tribe. We have Andrew Steyn (Marius Weyers), researching elephants in the desert. We have Kate Thompson (Sandra Prinsloo) who's abandoned her news reporter job to become a teacher in a tiny town in the desert. And we have Sam Boga (Louw Verwey) and his men, a violent rebel group on the run. Andrew is sent to pick up Kate, and much of the movie is spent on his bungling incompetence with women and the antics required to transport her across the desert in a barely functional Land Rover that's been titled "The Anti-Christ" by Andrew's employee M'Pudi (played by Michael Thys). M'Pudi speaks Xi's language, and so is pulled in as a translator when Xi runs afoul of laws he has no understanding of. And eventually, they all run afoul of the escaping armed rebel group.

None of which really fills you in on the comedic genius of the movie: Weyers is quite possibly the greatest slapstick artist since the 1920s. Weyers was born 60 years too late: he's so good at slapstick he could have had starring roles in Charlie Chaplin's movies. Better yet, the movie uses that slapstick judiciously, breaking it up with social commentary and other forms of comedy.

Wikipedia points out there's been some controversy about the movie's completely ignoring Aparthied, and patronizing the San. They're not wrong, but also ... this is a comedy, not social commentary. Despite these possible problems, the movie remains one of my all time favourite comedies.

There's one official sequel (and three low budget unofficial sequels), but it's not as good and not recommended.