Probably the world's first jihad terrorist comedy, Four Lions is a daring, brilliantly conceptualized film, but like the bumbling bombers of the title, the execution tends to be hit-and-miss.
Four Lions
✭ ✭ ✭ Read critic reviews
United Kingdom, France · 2010
Rated R · 1h 37m
Director Chris Morris
Starring Riz Ahmed, Nigel Lindsay, Kayvan Novak, Adeel Akhtar
Genre Comedy, Crime, Drama
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British terrorist Omar and his bumbling friends discover that they're more of a threat to themselves than to Western society in their inept plans to wage jihad. Whether attaching explosives to birds or preparing for a suicide bombing, every plan they hatch literally blows up in their faces.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
Guaranteed to offend a lot of folks across the political and belief spectrum, but consistently funny and horribly to the point. A sit-com spin-off is probably not on the cards, though.
While these ninnies' antics and banter are remarkably entertaining, the quality of the satire depends on when the movie is sending up ludicrous extremist logic and when it's just engaging in repetitive buffoonery.
Boxoffice Magazine by Pam Grady
While the film is likely to find outright rejection among those who remain jittery with each turn in the War Against Terror, it should find a warm reception with fans of dark, outrageous humor.
Chicago Sun-Times by Roger Ebert
Four Lions is impossible to categorize. It's an exceedingly dark comedy, a wicked satire, a thriller where the thrills center on the incompetence of the villains.
Movieline by Stephanie Zacharek
The idea, in the end, is that even lovable loonies can do a lot of damage.
Philadelphia Inquirer by Steven Rea
When it works - and it doesn't half the time - it's as if Monty Python were back, putting its merrily imbecilic stamp on the dark world of terrorism.
Real satire must be savage, and Four Lions, for all its daring, finally doesn't dare enough.
If all terrorists were like these idiots, the US would have nothing to worry about.
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This film is probably my favorite answer to the question "what if terrorists lived in your neighborhood?" The answer: the lads you've grown up with are probably too incompetent and have too much heart to carry out the task. The movie has a great, wonderfully British sensibility that is (for the most part) tonally consistent. I highly recommend.