The final moment is strong, but the rest of the film isn’t as bitingly satirical as the premise would suggest. Or even, as the premise would require. It’s amusing all of the way through, but just in the surface level way that watching The Three Stooges bonk each other on the head is. This movie could have been about anything and included all of the same bumbling idiots screw stuff up humor that it does. Not saying something more interesting about the source of fundamentalism in human nature makes it feel more like a missed opportunity than a success. At the very least, it should have done more to make me care about the characters and their individual resolutions if it wanted to rise above mediocrity. Fun enough for a viewing, though.
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Short Round: Four Lions (2010) ***/*****
The final moment is strong, but the rest of the film isn’t as bitingly satirical as the premise would suggest. Or even, as the premise would require. It’s amusing all of the way through, but just in the surface level way that watching The Three Stooges bonk each other on the head is. This movie could have been about anything and included all of the same bumbling idiots screw stuff up humor that it does. Not saying something more interesting about the source of fundamentalism in human nature makes it feel more like a missed opportunity than a success. At the very least, it should have done more to make me care about the characters and their individual resolutions if it wanted to rise above mediocrity. Fun enough for a viewing, though.
