Holy shit, this film is almost unwatchable. I read reviews that weren't exactly favorable but they didn't prepare me for it's overwhelming mediocrity. It was a laugh free experience.
That surprises me. Haven't heard anything quite so negative about it. I laughed more in the cinema at this than I have at anything in years, when I really wasn't expecting to. The characterisation was fantastic, particularly the main bloke and Barry the psychotically overzealous convert. Buffoonish as some of the characters are, the confusion it instils in the viewer as they begin to empathise with suicide bombers is beautifully done. And the ending is genuinely quite affecting. It's very old fashioned in a lot of ways, but the combination of old fashioned gags with such sensitive subject matter worked very well I thought. Politically, it hints at lots of things without ever hitting you over the head with a sledgehammer about it, and mainly concentrates on the character-based comedy. Though attempting to humanise what is generally regarded as 'other' is a political statement in itself.
Anyway, my 2 pence worth. Morris' best work in a long time.
