FOUR LIONS (2010)

Country: U.K.

Genre(s): Comedy / Drama

Director: Christopher Morris

Cast: Riz Ahmed / Nigel Lindsay / Kayvan Novak

Plot

Four British Muslims plot to martyr themselves in a coordinated suicide bomb attack.  Their only problem is that they’re all idiots.

What I Liked

There’s no getting around it; the movie’s damn funny.  When one first hears/reads that the film is about terrorist plotting a suicide bombing, comedy isn’t the fight genre that might come to mind.  In fact, when one learns it is a comedy, one might take offense.  After all, most would agree that mass killing is no laughing matter.  “Four Lions” will make you laugh out loud, despite yourself.  The film presents the quite plausible hypothesis that most terrorists are far from the mysterious, mad geniuses or even the devout religious fanatics they are often portrayed as being in film; they’re dumbasses who can’t get themselves organized, constantly screw up at every endeavor, and could care less about the Koran.

However this is no bare-bones “Three Stooges” serving of buffoonery (Don’t get me wrong, I love the Stooges).  Despite their imbecility, the characters in “Four Lions” are never allowed to become simply caricatures; they are very well fleshed-out characters both emotionally and psychologically and thus seem entirely believable.  Which is where the film is truly frightening.  Every laugh comes with a twinge of fear, yet the laughs are unavoidable.

What I Didn’t Like

Of course, as I mentioned previously, there is often an uncomfortable feeling one gets due to the subject matter of the movie; but that’s part of the films point and part of what makes it so funny.  Just know that it’s there.

While this film is terrifically funny, part of its humor relies upon the very shock of taking people who are regarded as such devious villains in popular culture and turning all of that on its head with pure silliness.  Much of the comedy that takes place on screen wouldn’t be so funny if it wasn’t making fun of aspiring mass murderers.  Take away the novelty of the subject matter, and the film would be about half as funny.

Most Memorable Scene

You can see some of these gags coming long before they happen, but they’re executed so well that the laughs never suffer.  The one involving a bazooka being shot at a U.S. drone has been done countless times on film and television, but still had me in stitches.  Funniest moment of the movie.

My Rating: 3 out of 5