Excerpt:
Four Lions, a British film directed by Chris Morris, is a satire on Islamic jihadism and its murderous ambitions.
In treating the subject as farce, it has stirred some angry reactions in Britain. Inevitably it raises the question: when does satire cease to be funny and become merely tasteless and offensive? Morris's answer would be: satire must be tasteless and offensive, otherwise it wouldn't be satire. On the evidence of Four Lions, he has a point.
The film is tasteless and offensive. It will be especially offensive to jihadists. It is also very funny. Morris is a British comedy writer and former DJ. And on the subject of tastelessness he can speak with authority. Among his exploits is a love lyric addressed to British child murderer Myra Hindley and a scurrilously edited version of the Archbishop of Canterbury's eulogy for princess Diana.