Friday, January 14, 2011

Four Lions (2010)

This was a very smart and ambitious dark comedy, and I do love a good dark comedy. I just wish this had been a little funnier. I really enjoyed the film's subversive wit, though.

Omar and Barry (Riz Ahmed and Nigel Lindsay) are two would-be suicide bombers who can't seem to get on the right page with their targets. They consistently bicker and argue about the members of the group, the real meaning behind their sacrifice and how exactly they are going to make and employ their bombs. The five members of their group are not always the brightest or most understanding so Omar has to bring them back down to earth when they want to act out and brandish their guns in public. A few of them travel to Pakistan to get some real training within a terrorist training camp and, let's just say that doesn't go so well for them. When they get back, they have their target. Now, let's see if they can survive their own amateurism long enough to blow themselves up at the London Marathon.

Like I said earlier, this was a very smart comedy. Lots of totally inappropriate jokes that were absolutely hilarious. My kind of jokes. They just weren't there throughout and that was kind of disappointing. I do appreciate this comedy for what it is, but I do feel it was intentionally made to be provocative, so that knocked it off a bit. In the end, I liked this movie, but not as much as I would have wanted. Grade: B

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