Harry Knowles on Four Lions: “The Most Biting Satire That I’ve Seen Since Dr. Strangelove

By Jason Apuzzo. I am going to keep hounding Libertas’ readers until you go see Four Lions! (See my recent review of the film here.) Aint It Cool News’ Harry Knowles even raved about the film over the weekend. Here are the money quotes from his review:

I’m not real sure what I thought I was seeing with FOUR LIONS. I think in some ways I was expecting something more cartoonish, perhaps even bloody. What I wasn’t expecting was the most biting satire that I’ve seen since DR STRANGELOVE OR: HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE THE BOMB …

I seriously have no idea why this film didn’t get picked up domestically before Tim League of the ALAMO DRAFTHOUSE had to create a distribution company just to distribute it, but man. Here in Austin, they’re gonna make some serious money with this thing.

The audience was laughing throughout and enjoyed the hell of it. It is incredibly smartly written.

Four Lions opened in select theaters nationwide on Friday. Check here to check when the film will be coming to your area.

***SPOILER ALERT***

The scene above is the one in which Omar and Waj, trying to destroy an American drone, accidentally blow up Osama bin Laden’s tent.

Posted on November 8th, 2010 at 4:12pm.

Published by

Jason Apuzzo

Jason Apuzzo is co-Editor of Libertas Film Magazine.

14 thoughts on “Harry Knowles on Four Lions: “The Most Biting Satire That I’ve Seen Since Dr. Strangelove“”

  1. I’m surprised Harry Knowles would like this given how liberal he is. Maybe he’s finally gotten sick of the whole PC routine. He makes a good point though about why this took so long to get distribution. The film was a hit at all these major film festivals, but no distribution company could pick it except this brand-new one that’s never released anything before. It’ll be interesting to see how it does once it goes into wider release.

  2. Having read his long review, I actually think HK’s reading of the film is a bit shallow and off the mark – he doesn’t quite seem to catch the spirit of it – but nonetheless it gives you some idea of how effective the humor is that he would rave about it to this extent. He seems to think Four Lions is still somehow compatible with today’s snarky, vapid Comedy Central liberalism. It isn’t.

  3. This is defnitely un-PC. No-one is supposed to make fun of these guys, you know what I mean?

  4. “Four Lions” still isn’t anywhere near me, so it looks like I’m going to have to wait longer.

    By the way, Jason … I finally got around to seeing “Tetro.” Have you or Govindini seen it? I’d love to know what you all thought of it.

  5. I haven’t seen this yet, but I will watch it soon.

    On a side note, did you become a priest or something Jason? I miss the pictures of the foxy ladies. I mean, Govindini’s pic is always up so it never is too bad around here, but I need my fix (you aren’t bad either, Jay, just not my type). Please keep posting the wonderful news round-ups that contain the beautiful ladies of this wonderful world we live in.

  6. Get ready for the next Invasion Alert!, my friend, because your eyes are going to pop out of your head … it’s coming later tonight or early tomorrow.

      1. I don’t know about that; I’ve found many of his reviews to be useful. In this one, he writes:

        If the terrorists are hapless clowns, the cops are silly fools

        If this is true, it would bother me. What’s your take on this point in particular?

        1. The cops are portrayed as normal professionals, dumbfounded by how idiotic the terror cell is. I really have no idea what Morgenstern’s talking about. You barely spend any time with the cops, at all.

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