Four Lions

"Four Lions" is a sloppy movie that shows in every single scene that it is the work of someone experienced with television and not feature films. Christopher Morris is apparently very famous in England. I see from his IMDb page that he's only written and directed television shows, like "Nathan Barley" and "The Day Today." This is a great way to build up a fan base, but it may leave you out of touch with cinematic instincts. That's what's happened to Morris. For example, he uses a lot of establishing shots and thus makes the film come off as episodic. As I said in my review of "Hereafter," this reeks of a sitcom. A real filmmaker puts their faith in the audience and segues right in with regular shots.

But I wouldn't care about this as much if the film delivered. Let me tell you: it really doesn't. This is a British comedy and satire that is reported to produce many laughs. Nearly all of mine were forced. When these types of films don't work (like Winterbottom's "Tristam Shandy"), they can be very middling, and that's exactly what this is.

This film barely even has a plot: we follow a group of inane terrorists as they try over and over again to orchestrate a suicide bombing. Omar (Riz Ahmed) is very serious about it all, the most diehard of the group. Barry (Nigel Lindsay), a sometime panelist, is hellbent on blowing up a mosque so that he can get Muslims to rise up. Waj (Kayvan Novak) is basically a puppet, who can be easily swayed ideologically with the promise of going on theme park rides when he's in heaven. Fessal (Adeel Aktar) earnestly buys chemicals at the same store with "different voices," and one of the more minor members of the group. And finally, we have Hassan (Arsher Ali), who joins the group later on after he pulls an audacious but senseless stunt in the audience of one of Barry's talks. We follow them through their mishaps, in terrorist training camp, videotaping themselves, and sometimes just blowing up microwaves for good measure. This is all put together in a way devoid of sense, somehow not developing characters enough to really make us care about them. It must be said, though, that at a certain point, I stop finding people failing and arguing about silly stuff humorous. There are people that do like this kind of thing, and they will be satiated. However, they won't be enriched by a quality film experience.

When we get to the ending, set during the London Marathon, Morris doesn't flinch at surprising violence. But even this he ends up making repetitive. He struggles a bit with tone, which doesn't help. It's really not his business. He's in it for setting up the music and the image, as that's what I assume he does with his television programs.

Morris hits some nice marks with his jabs at the faulty ideology of the terrorists. They completely misunderstand the meaning of jihad. Omar feeds it both to Waj (through the whole theme park meme) and his own son (through a story about "The Lion King") in misleading ways. There is also the idea of "following your heart," which is brought up in a scene between Omar and Waj where Waj obviously has doubts and where Omar has to convince him that "his brain really is his heart."

I will finally speak of the acting, which is a maker or a breaker in a comedy. Sad to say that "Four Lions" gets let down on this front. Ahmed in the lead role admirably plays a straight man, but he's not very good at delivery of jokes and this costs the film. Also underperforming is Lindsay, who swings and misses when it comes to making an endearingly annoying character and ends up just with the latter half. I didn't much like Novak either and had mixed feelings about Ali (who is admittedly better than his lookalike Aasif Mandvi, which is not saying a whole lot). Good work is given in my opinion is by Aktar making a comical character out of Fessel (providing salvation like David Rasche did in "In the Loop"), but he's such a small part of the film that it really doesn't matter that much.

I don't tend to get into the groove of cult films that cause unstoppable laughter. That was why for me "Four Lions" was a dissatisfactory movie. It definitely has an audience, which you may be a part of. Speaking for myself, though... C

Soul Kitchen

"Soul Kitchen" has passages with one image in front of the other without much meaning. It is for the most part narratively incoherent, utterly disjointed, cliched, ended like a storybook (however appealingly), as well as (seemingly) condensed. These things sabotage its chances of success. The film is (as my friend and others said) endearing, and this is a factor that saves it somewhat, but it doesn't make it a good film. I understand director Fatih Akin's choice to make something other than "The Edge of Heaven," i.e. a comedy instead of a drama, and in theory it seems like it might work, but, assuming this is how an Akin comedy would look like, I think if he wants to partake in successful ventures, he should go back to what he was doing.

This film is about Zinos (Adam Bousdoukos). He has a food establishment known as "Soul Kitchen." He serves food people want, which isn't quality food, but comfort food. He doesn't particularly like this food he serves, but he needs money. He's very into music, as evidenced by the film's soundtrack, which continues pretty much nonstop throughout the film. He has a girlfriend, named Nadine (Pheline Roggan), who goes to China and wants him to come, too, although Zinos feels tied to his restaurant and will not leave. He also has a imprisoned brother, Illias (Moritz Bleibtreu), who tries to convince Zinos to give him a job to "go through the motions" (not very responsible guy, we are to assume), alongside the waitress who starts to become the object of Illias' affection, Lucia (Anna Bederke). There's also Thomas Neumann (Wotan Wilke Möhring), who Zinos was in 4th grade with and who schemes to pry Soul Kitchen away from Zinos.

Zinos goes to a dinner with his girlfriend at a high-end restaurant where the chef, Shayn (Birol Ünel) has a breakdown when one of the customers complains about the food and is fired. Zinos makes him his chef afterwards, which pisses off his customers, as they don't want fancy food: THEY WANT THEIR PIZZA! So, Zinos instead finds a new crowd, musicians and hipsters, who will eat up just about everything, including pricey, rich stuff.

This is a disastrously structured film, and there's no way around that. That's the great inhibitor, although there are others as well (cliches being one). It was dashed off, not just (as IMDb user BOUF says) "fast-paced." I direct your attention to this dialogue, which occurs when Zinos is taking a smoke and Shayn is standing up on a high ledge, just having been fired:

Zinos: "Your food was great!"

Shayn: "Do you have a job for me?"

There's no evidence in the film to say that Shayn has ever even heard of Zinos. So what the freak? It sounds like the beginning and end of an exchange with the middle cut out of it. Why wouldn't one just finish the scene? Scheduling issues? This is completely amateurish, obviously constructed this way to expediently advance the plot of the film. Akin should be above this. And it's sad that he isn't. For this among other things, "Soul Kitchen" is a misfire. C

The Producers (1968)

"The Producers" may very well be Mel Brooks' most revered comedy, as it has been remade into a play and another movie, both starring Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane. This first version, Mel Brooks' debut, is hysterically funny and may very well be his best movie, rivaling his other successes as "Blazing Saddles" and, even more, "Silent Movie." This one stars the ridiculously funny Zero Mostel as Max Bialystock, an unsuccessful Broadway producer who has just made a flop, which only played one night. He is looking for a way to make it to the top when his new and uptight accountant Leo Bloom (Gene Wilder) tells him that if he raises, say 1 million dollars, he could make more money with a total disaster than he ever imagined. At first, they can't find a play, but finally they discover the absolutely outrageous and flat-out terrible doozie "Springtime For Hitler," written by ex-Nazi Franz Liebkind (Kenneth Mars) about Hitler and his wife in the countryside in the spring. Bialystock raises the money, hires a terrible director (Christopher Hewett) and casts a psychedelic dude (Dick Shawn) to play Hitler, making it surefire as a total miss and a spot-on scheme. On opening night, the audience is appalled by the outrageous first song, which is "Springtime For Hitler", but, at the first sight of the chilled-out and strange Hitler, they love it. Soon, it is the biggest success on Broadway. I won't tell you the ending, but let me tell you, it's mucho fun and laughs and giggles. Anyways, Mostel and Wilder are extremely freaking funny, making me explode with tons of belly laughter throughout the entire movie. Mars is great as the very annoyed former swastika-wearer whose expectations are not met by the farcical production. Another highlight is the strange actor played by Shawn, who makes the play the funfest that it is. The script is also fantastically fun, filled with tons of Brooksisms and witty jokes. Bottom line: this film is not a flop. A

Don't Say a Word: Silent Movie

Better known for such comedic vehicles such as "Blazing Saddles" and "Young Frankenstein", Mel Brooks churned out this masterpiece-and it may even be better than the other two. "Silent Movie" is an extreme gag-o-rama, filled with many hilarious, witty, and accurately satirical moments that are delightful. The plot: Big Picture Studios is a struggling distributor that needs to make more hits so that it can compete with Engulf and Devour, which is the big cheese of the industry. There to help out the struggling Studio Chief (Sid Caesar) is Mel Funn (Brooks), director, and his two bumbling sidekicks, Marty Eggs (Marty Feldman) and Dom Bell (Dom Deluise). The plan: make the first silent film in 40 years to relaunch the studio and make big bucks. How? Get stars, of course. The celebrity courting scenes (including Burt Reynolds, James Caan, Paul Newman, Liza Minnelli, Marcel Marceau, and Anne Bancroft) are an absolute scream and are some of the best work Brooks has ever done. Anyways, Engulf and Devour is watching the little company grow and decides to send in Vilma Kaplan (Bernadette Peters) to seduce the rising director (who also has a drinking problem). This proves for more hilarious results, and, although this follows a certain formula that Brooks has devised (except with Madeleine Kahn in "Blazing Saddles"), it works well. This leads to the arousing of Funn's drinking problems and, when Kaplan quits E and D, a new member of the Big Picture Studios team. In the end, the shoot works out (and nothing is seen of any of the silent movie in question), and provides for two things: an over-the-top chase sequence (featuring a previous "Coca-Cola" gag as a main feature) and a caricature of a premiere audience that ends up loving the film. Anyways, Brooks is good at endings and hits this one right on target, as he did with the zany and ultra silly fight at the end of "Blazing Saddles." Now, to the message and technicalities: this movie is not only a parody of the moviemaking biz but of Hollywood itself, with jokes about fashion, acupuncture, and star maps. Also, the movie provides laughs in it's idea, taking advantage of being able to put different things on the title cards than what is actually said, plus, allowing for a surprise gag with Marceau that is ironic and very funny. Also, it uses old-time sound effects to also produce mad gags. On another subject, Brooks is good and has a versatile face that works wonders and gets across a lot of expression. Feldman takes up the sidekick role again (he was obviously Igor in "Young Frankenstein") and does it well. Deluise is okay. Bottom line: this film is amazingly funny, and I don't need any more words than that. A

The Grittiest Case Ever: My Cousin Vinny

A hilarious yet charming movie about lawyers and coming back. The plot: Two guys (Ralph Macchio and Mitchell Whitfield) stop at a rest stop in Alabama and buy loads of stuff. Macchio forgets to pay for a can of tuna and he and his buddy drive off in oblivion. Two minutes later, they are being hauled into the station on account of shoplifting (reasonable) and murder (obviously not). So Macchio calls his cousin Vinny (Joe Pesci), who is less competent than The Verdict's Francis Galvin on a drinking spurt. In fact, Vinny happens to be the worst lawyer ever, and he is so bad, he can't even plead guilty or not guilty. So basically a People's Court fan would be able to outdo him in a trial. Pesci is a great choice for this kind of character, because he is able to channel the humorous aspects of his role in Raging Bull and Goodfellas and lay down a great comedic performance. Also great is Marisa Tomei as his fiance Mona Lisa Vito, an eccentric car buff who is extremely funny. Anyways, the opposing side has three decisive witnesses and a judge (Fred Gwynne) who disapproves of Vinny's informal manner. For example, he makes fun of Vin's black leather jacket and ridicules him and makes it clear that he should wear a coat and tie. But don't worry: this is as funny as it sounds. In the end, though, Vinny realizes the consequences of a sentence and decides he should step up his game. And step up he does. He puts Denzel Washington's Philadelphia lawyer to shame. He kicks the crap out of the opposing by whittling each witness down one by one until they look foolish. This is hard to believe. I guess the notes that the opposing lawyer supplied helped. Plus, Vinny's experiences in Alabama have eerie effects on the success of his arguments. So as to say, his experiences help him out. This is a little too coincidental for me. I liked Tomei's final car argument to justify that there could be another car besides the Buick Skylark, but everything after that seemed too textbook. And also, the experiences were funny, but how much crap really can happen to two people when they are in bed? Excuse me, that was a dumb question. When it comes to movies, bad luck always happens to people when they are sleeping. How could I be so foolish? Another thing: the character development is a work of stupidity. But heck with that. This film is actually a very funny insight on courtroom dramas and actually is effective in what it wants to do. Case closed. B+