Terrorism Comedy Premieres at Sundance

A farce about four bumbling suicide bombers planning an attack on London has premiered at the Sundance Film Festival to predictably mixed reactions. Some critics are uneasy with satirist Chris Morris' mixture of comedy, buddy movie, and thriller in Four Lions, while others hail him for trying to take a look at the funny side of extremism.

"It will offend all sorts of people," a correspondent from Screen International tells the BBC. "It will offend the British, it will offend Muslims, it will offend jihadists. But if satire doesn't offend people, it is not satire." Morris told the premiere audience that the film was inspired by an account he read of a botched terrorist attack a few years ago. "It was like an Ealing comedy," he said, referring to a series of films produced by Ealing Studies in the 1950s. "I felt there was a missing link and these guys were pretty foolish." (More Chris Morris stories.)