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[Morris's] new comedy has a provocative, ticklish premise -- five North England Muslims become suicide bombers, but can't decide who or what to take with them.
It's difficult to imagine a movie this boldly provocative about the underworld of violent jihad, much less one that actually inspires laughter.
The first feature, written and directed by satirist Chris Morris, may seem profane to some, but if you're doomed by watching it, at least you'll go down laughing.
A dark farce sitting somewhere between "Dr. Strangelove" and "Duck Soup." It will blow you away.
"Four Lions" is a very funny British send-up of the dimwitted children of parents smart enough to escape their repressive Islamic homelands.
Four Lions is more interesting than riotous. Consider it an example - a well-paced, clever and understated compassionate example - of a filmmaker wrestling with fear.
... A welcome antidote to cultural hysteria.
Writer-director Chris Morris walks that razor-fine line separating comedy and tragedy by mocking terrorists without mocking the horrors of terrorism itself.
Four Lions doesn't always reach satirical perfection, but it comes fairly close.
[It is] a biting, laugh-out-loud funny satire that dares to poke fun at Jihadi terrorists and one of the blackest, funniest comedies in recent memory.
Four Lions is merciless in its mission to find humor where few would dare seek it.
The comedy is as black as can be, both silly and sharp ... It just doesn't quite succeed in its Dr. Strangelove-inspired goal.
Is it insensitive? Jaw-droppingly so. But it's also tremendously funny, and after years of achingly serious movies about the War on Terror, it can't help but feel cathartic to unleash a few belly laughs at the whole mess.
The amount of edge to this edgy comedy and Morris's chutzpah for demanding that the film's tone and its uneasy ending remain intact throughout the film's financing.
If the things we fear most are the best fodder for black comedy (think Dr. Strangelove) then Four Lions, a veritable Three Stooges-esque comedy about Westernized jihadis, is on fertile soil indeed.
Chris Morris's jet-black farce maintains a queasy balance between character-based comedy and incisive political commentary for its entire running time.
The overall result is decidedly uneven: there's most certainly something for everyone but the lack of an overarching vision is readily apparent.
There are definitely some laughs in this film. But more often than not the film is an unfunny attempt to examine mindless extremism using humor.
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