In the days and weeks following the attacks of 9/11, the idea that terrorism might one day be grist for satire was unthinkable: the World Trade Center was still smoldering, war was looming, and the patient, expertly-trained operatives of al-Qaeda seemed poised to strike again - perhaps with suitcase nukes or chemical/biological weapons this time! The threat was real and seemingly omnipresent (these terrorists could be your neighbors or your friends); ergo, it was always going to be "too soon" because people were never going to stop being afraid of the Islamist bogeymen. This outsized, increasingly irrational fear should've been the satirist's friend, but, aside from the "Derka! Derka!" puppets of Parker & Stone's TEAM AMERICA: WORLD POLICE, no one had the stones to confront head-on the evil mastermind status accorded Osama bin Ladin and his scattered-to-the-wind sleeper cells. Perhaps they were leery of the overwhelming backlash such irreverence might inspire; maybe they were worried about reprisals from the notoriously humorless jihadis. Most likely, they were all just waiting for Chris Morris to get around to it. Having fearlessly spoofed every sordid aspect of British life for two decades via radio and television (with such brilliant programs as ON THE HOUR, THE DAY TODAY and BRASS EYE), Morris is as qualified as anyone to satirize the thorny subject of religiously-motivated mass murder. But rather than go the mockumentary route, Morris has brashly imagined the planning and execution of a terrorist act as an Ealing-esque caper comedy. Written with frequent collaborators Jesse Armstrong, Sam Bain and Simon Blackwell, Morris's FOUR LIONS is a twisted, uproarious and ultimately heartbreaking tale of U.K.-based extremists attempting to wreak explosive havoc at the London Marathon. As is the case in most caper comedies, the team is comprised of individuals who are inept in unique ways; however, unlike your typical heist yarn, these jokers don't need to be precise, or even a little lucky, to succeed. They simply require explosives and the film belief that their suicidal errand will be rewarded in the afterlife. Much easier than smuggling bullion. There's an anarchic quality to FOUR LIONS that's clearly reminiscent of The Marx Brothers, but Morris doesn't let his audience off the hook by structuring his narrative as a series of cynical, madcap set pieces. While several of his characters are outlandishly stupid, Morris and his writers draw the jihadis as somewhat likable eccentrics; for the most part, their commitment to martyrdom seems like a passing phase from which they could be easily distracted. The only truly frightening member of the cell is Barry (Nigel Lindsay), an older, manipulative white paranoiac who argues for the bombing of a mosque as a means of uniting moderate and radical Muslims against their common foes; Barry's schemes may be harebrained, but he's disgruntled enough to see them through (e.g. he bloodies his own nose to prove the wisdom of his mosque-bombing idea). The only person keeping Barry in check is Omar (Riz Ahmed), the brains of the outfit, and a devoted family man whose wife and young son support his dreams of martyrdom like he's a struggling musician trying to drag his misfit rock band to the big time. Omar may not be significantly more competent than his cohorts (he washes out of a Pakistan training camp in disastrous fashion), but he's earnest, introspective and, one hopes, smart enough to back away from the abyss. Though goofy and good-natured in the early going, the laughs begin to bruise as one realizes Omar and his fellow jihadis are actually going to carry out their London Marathon plot - as they must, because suicide bombers experiencing crises of conscious would make for half-assed satire, and Morris simply doesn't do half-assed satire (watch the "Paedophilia" episode of BRASS EYE if you doubt this). The jihadis' conscience is clear: they are doing what they believe is right in the name of God, and they will either succeed or fail. They will not back out. As a dark comedy goofing on a very real threat to civilization, FOUR LIONS recalls the fearlessness of Ernst Lubitsch's TO BE OR NOT TO BE, which made light of the Nazis before the tide of World War II had turned in favor of the Allies. But while Lubitsch's film was castigated for being way too soon at the time (it hit theaters a scant three months after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, and, coincidentally, two months after the tragic death of its star, Carol Lombard), Morris's ingeniously scabrous satire feels long overdue. The world has had more than enough time to acclimate itself to the wild-card reality of terrorism; it's a rotten wrong place/wrong time conundrum into which innocence isn't factored - and it's utterly absurd. As one of the characters helplessly admits near the end of the film, these attacks are often carried out by people who don't really know what they're doing. The only element they've got a firm grasp on is "why" - and that's because it's the one part of the proposition they aren't supposed to question. This is the painfully funny tragedy of FOUR LIONS, and, in many ways, of modern life. Faithfully submitted, Mr. Beaks

Chris Morris is currently touring the United States with FOUR LIONS. He'll be participating in Q&As in San Francisco (October 28th), Seattle (October 29th), Washington D.C. (October 30th and November 1st), Boston (November 2nd) and New York (November 3rd and 4th). There will also be free word-of-mouth screenings without Q&As in Austin, Chicago, Lubbock, San Antonio and Seattle. For times, locations and instructions on how to RSVP to see one of the best films of 2010, click here. FOUR LIONS opens theatrically November 5th.