FOUR LIONS (2010) (***)

Four British jihadists plot a suicide bombing. These men are true believers. They make video memorials. They stockpile bomb-making materials. Their plot is to maximize causalities and ensure the recruitment of other Muslims to their cause. Did I mention this was a comedy?

Omar (Riz Ahmed, CENTURION) is the de facto leader of the terrorist cell only because he's the least imbecilic. Barry (Nigel Lindsay, TV's ROME) is an Islamic convert, who overcompensates for being the only white man in the group by being ultra jihadist. Waj (Kayvan Novak, SYRIANA) and Faisal (Adeel Akhtar, TRAITOR) would make a great duo for a remake of DUMB AND DUMBER. Omar and Waj are best friends and they decide to get some training in Pakistan, which makes Barry jealous, so he recruits the young troublemaker Hassan (Arsher Ali). The training goes poorly, so when Omar returns to Britain he's determined to make amends for his mistakes.

The film is the first feature from actor/writer Christopher Morris (THE IT CROWD). Written along with Jesse Armstrong, Sam Bain and Simon Blackwell, the script walks a very fine line, stepping over it from time to time. Watching the bumbling actions of criminals has a strong tradition in British comedy. I think of the great Alec Guinness films KIND HEARTS AND CORONETS and THE LADYKILLERS. Those films feature murder for laughs as well, but sometimes LIONS forgets how to successfully handle it. The murder of crooks and criminals via each other or their own ineptitude equals funny; the killing of innocent people, even in ironic ways, equals not funny.

When this film is funny though, it can be very funny. Most of the humor comes from the sheer stupidity of these four men. Sometimes their stupidity is so vast that it bends credibility a bit. Faisal's explanation of how he disguised himself differently each time he went to buy bomb supplies comes to mind. But some of the funniest moments come via their twisted logic. Barry wants to bomb a mosque, because he believes the deaths of innocent Muslims will radicalize the moderates. Omar looks at him with disbelief. Omar's plan involves bombs hidden under silly costumes. There is something profoundly hilarious about a suicide bomber dressed up like an inverted clown.

Morris makes a point of making these jihadists just like an average Briton. For the most part it works really well as satire. Hassan's impromptu house party is particularly funny. But one part just didn't feel right. Omar is married and has a young son. He treats Sofia (Preeya Kalidas, BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM) as an equal, even challenging his conservative brother Ahmed (Wasim Zakir) to his ridiculous request to do something about his "out of control" wife when she simply will not leave the room he wants to enter. The pokes at extreme views on women are funny, but it only brings to the foreground a bigger question — why does Sofia so wholeheartedly support Omar's plans?

The film sidesteps ideology in its radicals, which creates a disconnect with them as seemingly integrated members of mainstream British society. If Omar and Sofia have a modern marriage, why do they not think about their son being fatherless? What does she think her life will be like after everyone knows he has killed innocent people? It's not that Omar doesn't believe in the strict conservative interpretation of everything radical Islam preaches, but his stable family life that bends credibility.

This flawed film has too many brilliant moments to be ignored though. For the most part, the film works wonderfully as a pitch-black satire with the guts to follow its premise to its dark conclusion. Its only crime is losing its balance on the tight rope it's walking on. It isn't afraid to reach far out of bounds for laughs, but those laughs lose believability and audience sympathy sometimes. Strangely, the film makes us root against the main character's success and it works very well. Morris and his cohorts even have the guts to make us fear them when it turns out the British government is as inept in trying to stop them as they are in trying to kill people.

In the end, the film left me with mixed feelings. The problems stick out like a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle strapped with a bomb. But some of the funniest bits stick out too. Omar's disastrous use of a missile launcher. Faisal's plan to strap bombs to crows. Omar and Barry's slapping match. Pretty much everything that Waj says. The jihadists awkwardly carrying their homemade bombs down the street in plastic shopping bags. I'll take some flaws to see those gems.