But considering the actor they chose to be the Prince of Persia says to me that they're not really trying.
Hmm.... oh, I don't know about that. Jake himself helped SNL prove how very alike he can manage to be in looks to no other than Mahmoud Amadinedjad (sp?) - I guess that's about as close as there is to the current "Prince of Persia".
One old movie I saw once actually looked realistic - "Flesh + Blood" with Rutger Hauer and Jennifer Jason Lee.
I did watch Flesh+Blood too, quite a long time ago, and I agree that as far as I can remember, you're right. Everyone looked like they pretty much *reeked*. Though there *was* one bath tub scene.... ahem.
(Honestly, I can't remember much of it).
But there's a more contemporary example, though, from the Fantasy genre. Viggo Mortensen's Aragorn was eternally (in)famous in the LotR fandom for looking like he fought all his battles primarily to win the right to never wash his hair. The sweathy, grimy, shampoo-avoiding look was parodied a lot and generated endless (fond) jokes - but most people would concede that Viggo looked smokin' hot under the grease and grit. Or even
because of the grease and grit.