Netflix Instant Movie of the Week: ‘Four Lions’
More and more people are subscribing to Netflix as more and more brick-and-mortar Blockbusters are shutting down. We all saw it coming, and it was only a matter of time before Netflix became the dominant company in the rental business, despite them making some questionable decisions in the past couple years. It has come to a point where more and more people are asking if a certain movie is on Netflix Instant Play. And why shouldn’t they? The convenience of simply pressing a button rather than going to a store or waiting for something in the mail. Heck, the DVD I have from Netflix has been sitting here on top of my DVD player since the beginning of the year.
I’ve decided that each week, I will pick a movie from the Instant Play library and offer it up for discussion. I will start off by picking movies I have watched and want to recommend to people, but I would like to get to a point where the readers and I are both discovering something for the first time. For these posts, I will not dive into much detail about the movie, rather giving up a brief summary and trailer, and then discussing it with the readers in the comments. Possible talking points will be added as well, but this new feature will be mostly about offering a suggestion to a movie that the readers can watch right away, and discuss their thoughts afterwards.
For the first week, I am going to offer up the 2010 comedy Four Lions. Directed by Christopher Morris and starring mostly new actors, this satire follows four Islamic Brits, who have dreams of being jihadis. This is a dysfunctional group, however, and they spend the majority of the time trying to clean up the disastrous mishaps they continually have. This is a movie that isn’t scared to bring up any subject and do it in jest. This was my favorite comedy from 2010, and had me laughing out loud the entire time, even on the repeat viewings. Below is the trailer, but having just watched it for the first time, I would suggest to watch only about half of it, as it reveals quite a bit and ruins some of the funniest parts of the film. Click here to watch the movie right now.
Possible topic of discussion:
- How controversial do you believe this film is, and how much does it being a satire affect that?
- We don’t exactly see too many films with this type of comedy; Do you want more or keep that status quo to make movies such as this one all that much better?
- What was your favorite part?
14 Comments
It’s a great pick to kick it off with Red.
“Four Lions” is a rare breed of movie, because its hysterical on one level, but then you dont have to do very much work in order to find some authenticly important statements about the absurdity of terrorism, and the comical ways that we’re trying to combat it.
I’d highly recommend it to anyone… I totally have your back on this pick. No doubt.
Yeah, it’s definitely one of the better films that blends its comedy and real life issues, but never being too serious about itself.
My favorite part of the film is when one of the guys try to use a bazooka and it misfires. The way it was shot and how the actor fell just made the whole thing hilarious.
Another funny moment is when the dumber of the two terrorists has a bomb strapped and just asks to eat quietly as if nothing is going to happen.
Yeah, I was disappointed to see the bazooka part in the trailer. And then the reactionary rockets had me rolling.
The blowing up of the sheeps had me in tears of laughter. The movie was up and down for me with some really funny scenes and others that totally missed the mark.
For me, they didn’t miss on very many of the jokes, I always found myself laughing.
Great choice. One of the things I love about this movie is that shifts tones so effortlessly. It’s rare for a movie to put me through so many different emotions.
Exactly. They did a great job editing this film together.
I wish this film had been funnier. I think my expectations were too high. Chris Morris’ TV stuff is a hell of a lot better. Still, this was unexpectedly poignant by the end!
I still haven’t watched any of his TV stuff, but I hope to here soon.l
I only saw the film once but I need to rewatch – it was hilarious. If I recall correctly there was a scene where the guy blew up the birdhouse by accident – that was the funniest part for me.
Yeah, there were so many accidental explosions in this film, and all of them quite hilarious.
A very funny film that also peeks debate. Haven’t seen something like that since Dr. Strangelove.
Hi Red, great idea for a feature. I haven’t seen this one myself, but it’s in the queue. Will try to check it out soon!
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