In the Loop

Political comedy is a hard stunt to pull off. Ever since 1964, it seemed like nothing could top Dr. Strangelove. A lot of movies have tried and a lot have failed, although there were the lucky few that passed the bar (Election, Thank You for Smoking) but the brilliant thing about In The Loop is that it's so stupidly funny that it's one of the best comedies of the 21st Century! Armando Iannucci, most known for his The Thick of It series in the UK, directs a movie with the a the familiar theme of The Office. That documentary-style of film-making can be hit-or-miss (most recently, Public Enemies, a miss) and Iannucci hits it right on. Every scene he graces with a camera comes out picture perfect; nobody could've pegged this movie any better. Iannucci, Jesse Armstrong, Tony Roche and Simon Blackwell's script is something out of picture show heaven and sounds like it must've taken forever to finish, edit, revise, etc. Although these guys, these geniuses, apparently know what they're doing and don't care what anybody else says. That is the heart and soul of movie-making, readers. In The Loop is about a corrupt British government that accidentally gets the country thrown into the middle of a war. Loop stars Peter Capaldi, Gina McKee, James Gandolfini, Chris Addison and there's even a whimsical cameo by Steve Coogan. Capaldi is the absolute best at what he did, spewing swears as coarse as they are a riot ("fuck you, you lubricated horse cock!") and freaking out. I can't even put into words just how funny this guy was; he made the movie! But don't forget Addison as Toby. Addison is the British Napoleon Dynamite, that incredibly awkward guy that makes even the audience members turn red. James Gandolfini and Gina McKee round out the rest of the cast greatly, filling In The Loop with the type of sexual tension that you don't want to think about. It's like when a sex scene pops up on a DVD you're watching with your parents. Yeah, that bad.In The Loop is one of the most laugh out loud comedies I've seen in the past decade, that sadly nobody will get a chance to watch. In a world of Transformers and G.I Joe, In The Loop will sadly be ignored. But on an optimistic note, we may have found this summer's sleeper, America.

5/5 stars.

During a fit of collective insanity the British people voted for a charlatan snake-oil salesman to be Prime Minister in 1997 and then re-elected him twice more. This film (together with the TV series from which it is a spin-off) is a record of the disgusting, bullying manner in which Tony Blair's head spin doctor, (actually a man named Alastair Campbell, but here named Malcolm Tucker) ran the government.

It nicely paints a picture of just one of the ineffectual, dim, gaff-prone and incompetent ministers with which Saint Tony surrounded himself. Unfortunately we never get to glimpse the more senior figures of this feckless government, Gordon Brown and the appalling Mr Blair himself.

Quite bravely, the film sets out how the "intelligence" was manipulated by Campbell/Tucker in such a way that it gave credence to the necessity for the Iraq war. With hindsight this is perhaps the most egregious example of outrageous behaviour on his part, but maybe there are other examples still to come out. But it literally beggars belief that an unelected oaf like Campbell/Tucker should have been given the power and authority to act on the Prime Minister's behalf in the way that he did.

It has been pointed out that this film does for contemporary politics what "Yes Minister" did in the 1980s. Very true. Ministers are shown as complete bloody fools being manipulated by the Civil Servants ("Yes Minister") or private office appointees ("In the Loop"). "Yes Minister" was also quite misleadingly described as "Comedy". No, this will not do. Both these pieces are documentary, but funny nevertheless.

You laugh at the time, but if you think about it, you cry. What a state we have come to.

One of the wittiest and most sophisticated movie satires of recent vintage, "In the Loop" provides us with a hilarious behind-the-scenes glimpse into the ugly, messy world of international diplomacy. The mad run-up to the Iraq war serves as the obvious blueprint for the fictional - yet far from make-believe - tale the writers have come up with here. We begin in London where news has just leaked out that the British and Americans are planning a military invasion of an unspecified country in the Middle East. When the bumbling Minister for International Development, Simon Foster, accidentally goes off script by stating in an interview that such a war is "unforeseeable," the Prime Minister's staff goes into immediate damage control mode, hustling Foster off to Washington D.C. to see if they can get him in on the pre-war planning and negotiations. From that point on, Foster becomes a bone-of-contention between the pro-war and anti-war factions battling it out for preeminence.

The source for "In the Loop" is a popular British TV series entitled "The Thick of It," with many of the actors from that program appearing in the movie (though we're told that most of the performers play different roles in the film from the ones they play on the show). As if that weren't confusing enough, the script by Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci and Tony Roche spends virtually no time on introductions or back story of any kind, leaving those of us who are unfamiliar with the context feeling just a wee bit lost and disoriented at the beginning. Indeed, we are plunged so immediately into the swirl of activity surrounding the minister's diplomatic faux pas that we learn early on that we had better start paying some serious attention to what's happening on screen or risk going under in pretty short order. I say this not as a criticism of the writing because, frankly, this is one of the few comic scripts I've come across in quite some time that actually treats its audience like thinking adults, that doesn't find it necessary to talk down to us in order to appeal to the lowest-common-denominator viewer. The one-liners come fast and furious in this film and woe to anyone not willing to make the effort to keep up with them. The good news is that the writing is so sharp and acerbic that we really don't mind putting that extra added effort into our viewing. One simply cannot be a passive onlooker while watching "In the Loop" and still reap the rewards of the experience.

With the kind of understated irony that distinguishes the best of British humor, the densely-plotted, character-rich screenplay aims its comedic sights at all the would-be power players, petty backbiters, toadying assistants, long-suffering aides, incompetent bureaucrats, draconian bosses, mealy-mouthed office-holders and enraged constituents that make up the world of high-level diplomacy and politics. The movie also has some fun with England's perceived role as ugly stepsister (or lapdog, if you prefer) to the bully-boy United States in matters of world affairs.

Director Iannucci gets nothing less than a sterling performance from each and every member of his large and gifted cast, be they American (with James Gandolfini the most recognizable face in that crowd) or British. However, extra special note should be taken of Tom Hollander, Chris Addison, Mimi Kennedy and, above all, Peter Capaldi, who tears up the screen as the deliciously ill-tempered and foul-mouthed enforcer for the British Prime Minister.

The truths this allegorical fable reveals about how easy it is to cherry pick evidence to lead a country into war and how hard it is for individuals of goodwill to stand up for what they know is right are so dead-on in their accuracy and so universal in their scope that they leave the mind reeling from the impact - and the ribcage aching from all the laughter.

I had never heard of this movie until the Oscar nominees were announced earlier this month. There among the nominees of Best Adapted Screenplay was a movie entitled "In The Loop." That was the only nomination of this film, and that made me curious about it.

That singular nomination was so right. The star of this film is most certainly the script! It is so over-the-top satiric and sarcastic. I daresay it is an incredible showcase for very innovative use of the English language. I had never heard words combined in such a bitingly funny yet incisively on-point manner.

The whole story began with a seemingly naive statement made by the clueless British Secretary of State on the radio that "war is unforeseeable" when asked about an impending US military intervention in the Middle East. This sets off a cascade of opposite reactions from both sides of the Atlantic as pro- and anti-war proponents face-off against each other with their conflicting views.

Fans of British black comedy will enjoy this film, which was apparently adapted by director Armando Iannucci from his BBC series called "The Thick of It." I do not get to watch enough British TV myself, but I really enjoyed the rapidly witty exchange of words by the characters. The excessive profanity seems so fit in this situation, I could not imagine any other words to use to replace them. They even make fun of their own profanity in one sequence. So funny.

I did not know most of the British cast but their performances are very entertaining as they brought the script to life with so much zip. Their very effective delivery makes the script work. Kudos to Peter Capaldi for his unflinching portrayal of the war-freak Malcolm. His fearless verbal assaults are sharper and deadlier than any weapon here. The American cast was more familiar with James Gandolfini there as a pacifist general, and Anna Chlumsky as an aide who wrote a controversial anti-war paper.

Overall, while this film is very good, it is definitely not for all audiences. The action here is in the words. I may not have been able to follow everything that was happening (like, what was that wall incident all about?) nor all the relentless British humor (should warrant a repeat watching), but I enjoyed myself nevertheless. You might enjoy it too.

The Big Questions: Can an adult comedy (i.e one without masturbation, anal sex, and talking genitals) attract people during the summer season? Can director Armando Iannucci, known for BBC series "The Thick of It", adapt the series to the screen in "In the Loop"? Does this war-room satire bring anything new to war-room satires?

Tom Hollander (the last two Pirates of the Caribbean movies) plays British Secretary of State Simon Foster, who in a radio interview says that war with the Middle East is "unforeseeable." The statement is enough to send the Prime Minister's chief adviser Malcolm Tucker (Peter Capaldi) into hysterics. The US President and UK Prime Minister are keen on a war and Tucker wants to give it to them. In Washington, Deputy Secretary of State Karen Clarke (Mimi Kennedy) has learned of a secret War Committee formed by Linton Barwick (David Rasche) and she dispatches her secretary, Liza (Anna Chlumsky, yup, from 1991's "My Girl"), to find out everything she can about it. Clarke and General Miller (James Gandolfini) are against the war and are willing to do anything in their power to stop it, even inviting Simon and his assistant Toby (Chris Addison) to Washington thinking that Simon might be usable. Just Simon is a clueless pawn without the slightest idea what he's doing. Other story strands center around an anti-war paper written by Liza, and an affair she has with Toby.

The foolishness of government war-mongering is sent-up well by this profane and viciously over the top comedy. If you've read the several books about the events leading up to the Iraq War, the constant and disconcerting string of manipulation, deception, back-door tactics, and posturing for political career gain, as well as how they all think of it as a game without consequences, incorporated by these underlings won't shock you too much, but the laughs just might. Shot with a hand-held camera that brings to mind "The Office", these people run around like chickens with their heads chopped off (some of which is very hard to even keep track of) trying to win out over the other side. The fast pacing, profanely clever dialogue, and flying insults are relentless. There are references to CNN being the Cartoon News Network, kids just out of college making big White House decisions, a sexual encounter for world peace, and a funny attack on a fax machine. In addition to turning profanity into a bodily function, characters (usually) shout pop culture references (John and Yoko, Kid from Eraserhead), and various other more derogatory names at each other. It's a tad excessive at times, but funny.

Peter Capaldi is the key stand-out in the cast, being the most over-the-top of them all. His obscene and excessively profane performance as the Prime Minister's lead guy is tremendously entertaining as he continues to verbally lay-out anyone he doesn't like or that gets in his way with ridiculously clever barbs. Hollander does well with the role of the cluelessly spineless Simon Foster. James Gandolfini and Mimi Kennedy each give strong performances, and Chris Addison, Anna Chlumsky (its good to see her back by the way), and the rest of the cast do nice work as well. Also look for Steve Coogan in a funny cameo as a "fogged off" Brit complaining about a wall.

The Verdict: While excessive and hard to follow at times, Iannucci, and his three other writers, create an adult satire that, while may not be for everybody, is pretty funny.