Laughing at Terrorists

[Calbeck]

Funny: I saw "An American Carol" in the theatres. Everyone in the theatre was laughing through most of the flick. There were some parts that were wincingly bad, sure --- also true of most Zucker flicks (even "Airplane" had some parts that dragged, being way overwrought). It seems to come with their brand of humor.

Then I saw what low ratings it was getting on RottenTomatoes, and began reading through the reviews from the professionals.

I was surprised to find that most had apparently not bothered to see the film. Some actually said they hadn't. Others described things that didn't appear in the film at all, apparently on the assumption that they would, given the film's obvious right-ward leanings. Still others seemed to take their cues directly from other reviewers, sometimes making the same verbatim statements about various scenes.

All in all, I found the film preachy and predictable, interspersed with genuine laughs when it wasn't trying to make a serious point (cue to all filmmakers: being serious with comedy requires the self-deprecatory skills of a Jon Stewart or Stephen Colbert). It didn't end well, though --- with Leslie Neilsen (the Narrator) dropping dead of a heart attack, but still clearly breathing during his death scene. Just plain amateurish, there.

Ironically, a better film about terrorism comedy is "Postal" by none other than Uwe Boll --- whether he meant it to be or not, it's easily one of the best flicks he's ever done, outdoing the Zuckers with similar humor and a much darker twist.

 

[Veylon]

I haven't seen it, yet. It's nice to have a movie explore some of the more absurd aspects of terrorism and the people involved in it. The mundane, especially, comes off as strange and peculiar.

Every evil organization ultimately has to suffer with the myriad of tiny administrative details , mundane chores, and bureaucratic nonsense that spawns the likes of The Office and such. Consider North Vietnam changing it's time zone, which in turn changed which side of midnight the New Moon happened and, in turn made Tet happen on a different day which caused whole army units to attack on the wrong day. It's at once hilarious and horrifying and comforting to pull back the veil on these deadly serious organizations and find out they have just many problems, hangups, and screw-ups as we do.

 

[Kapol]

I think that the article didn't end the () area in the first paragraph under the first quote of the second page. Just wanted to point that out as I'm insane with things like that when I notice them.

Anyways, now I want to check this movie out. Too bad it isn't showing anywhere near me. I guess that is one of the main drawbacks of living in the middle of nowhere though.

 

[Dumori]

I still haven't seen it despite being a huge fan of Chris and living about 2 miles from Shefeild. I know it caused some waves in Britain.

As for him not being peeved at bad US city planing. Come to Britan we have towns and citys so old that they are messes/mazes and will stay like that forever due to historical buildings/areas.

 

[WaysideMaze]

The inept terrorist with a taste for western culture has been throughouly explored by the absolutely superb Monkey Dust.

That show is fantastic. So underappreciated...

 

[TraderJimmy]

The inept terrorist with a taste for western culture has been throughouly explored by the absolutely superb Monkey Dust.


That being said, Morris is a genius. Brass Eye is kind of like the Onion on smack. As surreal as it is funny.

That's the show I instantly compare Four Lions to. Dunno why Monkey Dust is so unknown, even in Britain, I brought it up at a party recently and no-one there knew who it was, no-one at all! I think the slightly less silly approach of the film is worth having, though.

It does seem like everything Morris touches turns to gold. Some fans don't like Nathan Barley, but I love that show personally.

 

[LokiSuaveHP]

Inept terrorism was covered in the rather good (by Uwe Boll standards) Postal. I kinda want to watch Four Lions simply because it seems that a lot of the material that is covered seems stunningly close to the subplots of the terrorists in Postal.

 

[Velocirapture07]

As much as I feel apprehensive about things like this, and understand the pain that terrorists have caused and continue to cause both in the United States, but also elsewhere in the world....i feel like this is a step in the right direction. As long as it's done tastefully and doesn't try to provide excuses for these killers, I'm fine with it.

These fools warp and destroy a faith that could be so much more through their horrible acts and attempted killings of innocent people. In some ways, the best thing to do is NOT live in fear of these evil people, but instead laugh in their faces. That's EXACTLY what they don't expect and I say we stick it to these bastards in any way we can. So F**K YOU terrorists, love me.

 

[Isaac The Grape]

Here I was, marveling at the fact this film must've been released in Australia before America, then you explain why and suddenly there doesn't seem to be much point in marveling.

Anyways, thanks for the read as always. You make some interesting points about "edgey" comedies and you've made me regret not seeing this film when it was in cinemas.

Ninja'd. Damn.

 

[tyriless]

I just thought since musilms(what ever you call the crazy ones i know not all muslims are cranky old men with explosives(but all muslims take offence to stuff really easily)) blow everything out of proportion(no pun intended) they might bomb what ever studio made this film or the publishers or whatever.

Yes, I would hope Muslims would take offense that you lumped them in with the most murderous, idiotic, and cruelest of so called followers of their religion. The term you are looking for are jihadist, or someone who seeks to commit holy war against enemies of the Islamic faith. That came off pretty harsh, but America has a serious problem right now distinguishing Mulims from terrorist, and we are suffering as a society for it.

 

[SenseOfTumour]

I just thought since musilms(what ever you call the crazy ones i know not all muslims are cranky old men with explosives(but all muslims take offence to stuff really easily)) blow everything out of proportion(no pun intended) they might bomb what ever studio made this film or the publishers or whatever.

Yes, I would hope Muslims would take offense that you lumped them in with the most murderous, idiotic, and cruelest of so called followers of their religion. The term you are looking for are jihadist, or someone who seeks to commit holy war against enemies of the Islamic faith. That came off pretty harsh, but America has a serious problem right now distinguishing Mulims from terrorist, and we are suffering as a society for it.

Unfortunately, it's exactly what a fair chunk of the news media want people to think, which is why they tend to use the word 'muslim' when they mean 'extremist muslim'.

This is a fairly typical example of a front page after an extremist stabbed a politician who was in favour of the Iraq war:

Now, I know headlines have limited space, but even so, it's effectively saying muslims in general hate Britain, rather than 'a few extremists hate everyone not like them'. She was a woman, yet 'women call for death to Britain' probably wouldn't have been an acceptable headline.

It's factually accurate while being entirely untruthful.

Essentially, extremists of any kind, are generally naive or foolish people persuaded to do stupid things by a charismatic leader (who is still foolish and naive, but good at drawing others in).

Muslims are mostly not terrorists in the same way that the local church fete is filled with different people to the Westboro Baptist Church.

Of course, the more moderate muslims who speak out and say 'those guys are mental, they're not true muslims, they're just nutters with beards is all', the harder it will be for the gutter press to make them the scapegoat.

 

[Cameron Sours]

This text review is much better than the video review.
While the video review did more or less capture the barest of bones of the plot, it's characterizations and connotations were way off.

As for the limited release, it looks like its playing in one theatre: http://www.originalalamo.com/Show.aspx?id=7892

If its playing somewhere else, please do tell.

 

[archvile93]

I just thought since musilms(what ever you call the crazy ones i know not all muslims are cranky old men with explosives(but all muslims take offence to stuff really easily)) blow everything out of proportion(no pun intended) they might bomb what ever studio made this film or the publishers or whatever.

Yes, I would hope Muslims would take offense that you lumped them in with the most murderous, idiotic, and cruelest of so called followers of their religion. The term you are looking for are jihadist, or someone who seeks to commit holy war against enemies of the Islamic faith. That came off pretty harsh, but America has a serious problem right now distinguishing Mulims from terrorist, and we are suffering as a society for it.

Unfortunately, it's exactly what a fair chunk of the news media want people to think, which is why they tend to use the word 'muslim' when they mean 'extremist muslim'.

This is a fairly typical example of a front page after an extremist stabbed a politician who was in favour of the Iraq war:

Now, I know headlines have limited space, but even so, it's effectively saying muslims in general hate Britain, rather than 'a few extremists hate everyone not like them'. She was a woman, yet 'women call for death to Britain' probably wouldn't have been an acceptable headline.

It's factually accurate while being entirely untruthful.

Essentially, extremists of any kind, are generally naive or foolish people persuaded to do stupid things by a charismatic leader (who is still foolish and naive, but good at drawing others in).

Muslims are mostly not terrorists in the same way that the local church fete is filled with different people to the Westboro Baptist Church.

Of course, the more moderate muslims who speak out and say 'those guys are mental, they're not true muslims, they're just nutters with beards is all', the harder it will be for the gutter press to make them the scapegoat.

No, as much as I hate to admit it, their leaders are quite intelligent. You assume that their leaders actually believe in their own cause, but I don't think they do. They just convince stupid peopl to kill themselves by claiming their religion says so to further their real goal. And what is that real goal you ask? To gain power, pure and simple.

 

[WaderiAAA]

It makes sense that a lot of terrorists would be dumb. After all, most terrorism is political and the smart guys at the top of the pyramid (the ones who do not blow themselves up) use religion mostly as either a way to justify the cause or recruit dumb-asses who actually believes that blowing themselves up is a heroic act that would grant them a place in heaven with several docens of virgins and/or amusement parks.

 

[Gigano]

Terrorists are nothing but criminals with a specific motive, and the threat they pose - at least in stable states - is insignificant compared to the vast masses of less publicised criminals. The average risk of being killed by a terrorist in the west is about at the same as being struck by lightning, with some random drug addict murdering you being far more likely. Yet immense and grossly disproportionate amounts of limited resources have been spent on the terrorists, with basic civil rights even being endangered along the line.

As their novelty (to publicity; they've always been around, way before 9/11 and Bush catapulted them to twisted stardom by de facto acknowledging them as warriors rather than criminals) wears of, perspective and proportions set in, and this movie would seem one of the small healthy signs that common sense is slowly returning at last on this issue. At least to those who don't form their world view based on tabloids, but such people probably never did possess much of it to begin with.

 

[Ryokai]

It makes sense that a lot of terrorists would be dumb. After all, most terrorism is political and the smart guys at the top of the pyramid (the ones who do not blow themselves up) use religion mostly as either a way to justify the cause or recruit dumb-asses who actually believes that blowing themselves up is a heroic act that would grant them a place in heaven with several docens of virgins and/or amusement parks.

Not always just religion. You look at the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and you see it also based on political nonsense--i.e., a revision of history, that Israel "occupied" their land, which hammered into them again and again until they never actually look at a map and see that the land in question was Jordanian (until Jordan attacked Israel and lost) and that they were Jordanian citizens before Jordan abandoned them.

 

[rddj623]

I couldn't agree more. Tasteful comedy is in need of a comeback. Taste has little to do with content and everything to do with execution. Sounds like this movie has that execution.