Four Lions

This is a dark, dark piece of satire from director and co-writer Christopher Morris that somehow manages to get laughs out of jihad and suicide bombers. The story focuses on a group of English wannabe terrorists. At one point, two of them travel to a terrorist camp in Pakistan, and things don’t go very well. They return to England, where they plot some suicide bombings—and things get even worse. If you told me I’d be laughing my ass off at an intelligent satirical film in which multiple people blow themselves up while wearing mascot outfits, I’d say you were crazy. The accents are a little thick, so some dialogue might fly by American ears, but many of the words you decipher will have you laughing, and laughing hard. This is satire with monster-sized balls. I saw this film shortly after I delivered my Best of the Year list for 2010. Consider it a late addition.