Plot summary

It's 2008, and recent Canadian college graduate Jay Bahadur is living at home, in the basement, yearning for a shot at big time writing, but stuck in the day-to-day marketing research for a napkin manufacturer. His Mom (cameo appearance by Melanie Griffith) has Jay shoveling snow to offset rent expenses, but after falling and pulling a muscle in his back, he meets famed writer Seymour Tolden (Al Pacino) in a doctor's waiting room. Jay's plans to succeed include more education, specifically at Harvard, but Seymour says writers are made on site, in the fields of struggle. But the seed of future success is planted and off to Somalia Jay goes, under the guise of writing a book about the Pirates of Somalia. He has no publishing experience and no book deal in place.Seymour's connections allow Jay to immediately get a translator and an introduction to the country's President. His apartment has a view of the city street and while looking out the window on morning, sees a beautiful Somali woman, who happens to be a wife of a powerful Pirate, Boyah. This leads to an interview with Boyah, a first for Western journalists. And it's also love at first sight for Jay.From Boyah, interviews with more powerful Pirates take place, and eventually a journey to the coastline to interview prisoners of a captive vessel. Told that he could board the next day, dawn brings word that the vessel has moved to another anchorage...the pirates suspected he was CIA! Tensions were high at this time, due to another gang holding Capt. Phillips hostage and America sending 3 warships to the area to free him.The movie rapidly wraps up with Jay running out of money; his parents sending $$ so he can return to Canada. He lands in Toronto with over 250 voicemail messages from networks, book publicists, etc., and even his ex-girlfriend! Detained by Canada's CSIS at the airport requesting insider information on Somalia, then greeted at home by all his friends and Seynour with a surprise party, the movie concludes 3 years later with Jay sitting before an US Intelligence meeting for a briefing on Somalia on the heels of his successful book. Nice touch to add the real-life photo of Jay during the credits at the end of the movie.