'Four Lions' review: Hit-and-miss comedy

Probably the world's first jihad terrorist comedy, "Four Lions" is a daring, brilliantly conceptualized film, but like the bumbling bombers of the title, the execution tends to be hit-and-miss.

This is one of those ostensibly edgy movies that many people are going to find hysterically funny - or merely offensive. I was somewhere in the middle: There is truth to the notion that some terrorists are dim-witted followers who engage in stupid tactics worthy of a farce. But watching these two-dimensional clods - who have a combined IQ of about 100 - gets a bit tedious after the first 20 minutes. The humor often lacks bite.

The story begins, more or less, when Omar (Riz Ahmed, the most watchable member of the cast) and his merry band of imbeciles start plotting an attack on British soil, then climaxes at a race that could pass for San Francisco's Bay to Breakers.

Director Chris Morris, a popular satirist in Britain, clearly has a solid grasp of this world, and he wisely steers clear of making judgments about religion. But he doesn't humanize these terrorists enough to make us consistently laugh at their considerable shortcomings.

-- Advisory: Adult themes. Language.

E-mail David Lewis at davidlewis@sfchronicle.com.

This article appeared on page E - 4 of the San Francisco Chronicle