Thirty-six times over the past 65 years Egypt has submitted films to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences in the vain hope of winning an Oscar. And 36 times, Egypt has come up short, not even earning a nomination for what once was called “Best Foreign Language Film” and is now labeled “Best International Feature.”

“Voy! Voy! Voy!” should change that. It may not, Academy demographics and Middle Eastern geopolitics being what they are. I have seen deeper, more serious films in contention for this year’s field.

But damned if I’ve seen a funnier submission than this slow-set-up caper comedy, a movie you figure you’ve figured out until you haven’t, a staid and cynical story until it turns dark and laugh-out-loud funny.

It’s about a ringer getting onto a local blind soccer club’s team so that he can travel to a European tournament, his shady means of escaping a life of little hope and limited expectations. Writer-director Omar Hilal, making his feature filmmaking debut, takes his sweet time setting that up, dragging characters into the story, one by one.

But once that unsavory scheme is set in motion, the complications and silly, utterly unexpected surprises make this a feel-good delight.

A laugh out loud comedy from the Middle East? Go figure. And did I mention this is “inspired by a true story?”

Hassan (Mohamed Farrag) is desperate to get out of Egypt. He’s taken to seducing elderly foreign women to achieve that goal. One almost paid off, he tells his smoking buddies, the cynical Amr (Amgar al Haggar) and idealistic Saeed (Taha Desouky), until she dropped dead after sex.

Hassan is a security guard with zero prospects, a pretty woman (Passant Shawky) willing to ignore her mother’s warnings about “that bum” she’s fallen for and to wait for him. He doesn’t think of her or his aged mother (Hana Youssef) as he dreams of escape and even visits a smuggler to check the going rate for a perilous boat journey to Italy.

He’d have to fake “a Syrian accent” once he gets ashore. But never mind. It’s too expensive.

Adel (Bayoumi Fouad) is a portly 50something P.E. teacher at a middle school, losing all hope he’ll ever land a decent coaching job in Egyptian soccer. When he hears about an opening on a club team that has a shot at going to a world championship tourney, he’s leery. But his wheelchair-bound son begs him to take that shot.

The team is made up of visually-impaired players. The games are played on fenced-in outdoor concrete courts, or in gymasions. And when blind players run towards the rattle of the ball, players the world over shout out the Spanish word for “Here I come” so as to avoid colliding with each other at speed.

“Voy! Voy! Voy!”

It’s in the rules.

Hearing about that team gives Hassan a plan. Fooling and charming the new coach isn’t an issue. Nor is playing in matches that will let them qualify for a visually-impaired World Cup tourney in Poland. Hassan isn’t exactly scrupulous.

But as things take first one turn, then another and then another after that, we’re going to find out how low he’ll go and just what lines his friends will cross to help him realize his dream of a new life.

Writer-director Hilal, a veteran director of TV commercials, and his cast deftly tell a story of human failings, cynicism and desperation, an immigrant tale that serves up a “rascal” and assorted rogues and dares us to root against them getting out.

They’re amoral, cutthroat hustlers who are breaking rules, laws — maybe even skulls and legs to achieve their goal.

When the chips are down, we see that they aren’t moral men, law-abiding citizens or God-fearing Muslims. They’re just chancers determined to take that chance — as many chances as it takes to escape.

Only Saaed is naive enough to think “food to eat and a roof over our heads” (in Arabic with English subtitles) is enough. “We’ve got a good life. We should be grateful.”

Watch how fast he changes his tune when he sees the wrong woman prostituting herself in an apartment where he’s making a food delivery.

All this build-up gives the picture a slightly sinister tone. And then, the twists turn in on themselves and it’s just plain funny, with complications that pile on, the daft and not-according-to-plan solutions that are tried.

Farrag makes an amusing schemer as the lead, with screen veteran Fouad casting a jaundiced eye on all his character sees and narrating with a playful resignation.

“Voy! Voy! Voy!” might not change anybody’s idea about immigration. But watch this dark, picaresque comedy and try not to root for these rascals. It’s harder than you might think.

Rating: unrated, smoking, drug content, profanity

Cast: Mohamed Farrag, Nilli Karem, Bayoumi Fouad, Taha Desouky, Hanan Youssef, Amgad al Haggar and Mohamed Abdel Azim

Credits: Scripted and directed by Omar Hilal. An Image Nation Abu Dhabi/Vox Studios release.

Running time: 1:47