Chris Morris's FOUR LIONS (2010)

 "You were much more fun when you were gonna blow yourself up."  "I *am* going to blow myself up."

And: "Bro, I swear, I may ask you to blow yourself up, but I will *never* ask you to piss in your own mouth... promise, Bro."

Four Lions is brings on this surprising level of, what other word can I use, catharsis because of how absolutely non-stop (forgive this being pun-ish) explosively funny the dynamics and antics these characters get themselves into.

These guys are at the level of brazen incompetence that Walter from The Big Lebowski would look at them and shake his head (and realize at least they have an ethos unlike those Nihilists). Director Chris Morris and his collaborators - including none other than Jesse Armstrong (who between this and Succession proves he's a fucking genius) - do nothing less than what finely tuned satire should do which is to take down not simply the powerful but those who get so deluded into thinking they have the ultimate power (ie the Word of God and Jihad and Heaven and all that shit).

But above all else, and I don't mean this as a slight even as it may come out as that, it all unfolds like a long and extremely satisfying sitcom, really like a workplace comedy in a sense; I mention Big Lebowski, but in a way at least a couple of these guys have that equally toxic and laughable combination of idiocy and make aggression that Dwight had on the Office. Riz Ahmed plays the least incompetent or fool-headed of the bunch of "Lions" - this including a man who thinks the way to do this terrorism thing is to... blow up a Mosque so the Muslims get mad and do their own uprising (and naturally he won't let that go) - and even he is like the exasperated head of a bunch of... dorks, really.

It does get dark at times and there is a strangely melancholic song over the end credits that rubs up against what is still comedic outtake-like material. But almost to the end, like maybe until the last moment or two, Morris and everyone keep the awkward and absurd meshed together despite how intense and horrific (and even, aptly, cartoonish) the violence gets with every successful "Whoopsydaisy!" self-own explosion. Really, the catharsis I mention is that we should be able to laugh at violent scumbags and the tricky part is that you *almost* come to find these jerks endearing... after all, singing along to "Dancing in the Moonlight," who wouldn't?

Four Lions is the sort of comedy where the laughter works like a release valve to the heightened intensity of many scenes and moments, and you click with it or you don't. This made Riz Ahmed a name people wanted to work with for good reason, as his reactions are always grounded in some sort of reality, as is everyone, and it makes everything so much more 😬 while always 🤣 as well, to go to Emojis to explain.

Lastly.... Kind of amazing for a comedy that in this Allah-damn funny that there's the old Switcheroo-cutting in-between characters talking with a raid that is actually happening at another place like Silence of the Lambs.