In the Loop [DVD]

Prior to the release of In The Loop, Alastair Campbell said the film portrayed politicians and their advisers as crass and venal, which had never been his experience whilst in government. Then on the eve the film's release, Smeargate hit (I know, it sounds messy), with the expenses scandal to follow a few weeks later, proving that politics was indeed crass and venal. Iannucci 1 Campbell 0.

On the eve of `a war' in the Middle East, Minister for International Development Simon Foster (Tom Hollander) accidentally states that war is "unforeseeable". This ambiguous statement is seized upon by both the hawks and doves in Washington, with each seeing Foster as their poster boy. On hand to clean up the...mess, is the Prime Minister's spin doctor Malcolm Tucker (Peter Capaldi).

In The Loop is effectively a stretched out version of Iannucci's award winning television series The Thick of It., but one of the only characters linking the two is Peter Capaldi's ferocious government spin doctor Malcolm Tucker. Loosely based on Alastair Campbell, who claims Tucker is nothing like him (the gentlemen doth protest too much methinks), Capaldi's is an absolute joy to watch, as he spits fury at the bumbling government officials, both elected and unelected. Roughly every third word which comes from Tucker's mouth is a word you'd never use around your mother, but the writing is so intelligent, that it's impossible not to laugh as he spits fury.

Despite portraying Her Majesty's government as blundering fools, the rest of the British cast put in strong performances. Tom Hollander's government minister is the perfect example of the new generation of career politician which currently fills the government benches, and Chris Addison's Toby continues this in his role as a government adviser...despite being younger and significantly less experienced than the minister who he his advising.

When the storyline pops across the Atlantic to Washington D.C. and New York, the film does loose it's way slightly, as British audiences will naturally relate more to their own corridors of power and officials than they do those in the US. This doesn't mean that the US cast are left wanting for material, with some of the best jokes coming from the American counterparts, such as when James Gandolfini's General Miller adds up troop numbers on a child's computer.

Despite the drop in pace, transferring the action to the US is essential, as it exposes the real `special relationship' which exists between the two countries - America leads whilst Britain follows. Even when he travels to the White House and the United Nations, the force ten hurricane that is Malcolm Tucker finds himself pushed towards the periphery.

What makes In The Loop all the more brilliant is that once you've finished laughing at the superb performances and Iannucci's razor sharp script, you'll realise that the political world portrayed in the film is all too similar to our own, and that if this is how the world is being governed, we're all up the preverbal creek without a paddle.

The Verdict
Political satire of the highest standard - In The Loop definitely gets my vote!!!

`In The Loop' is the political satire that looks at the American and British rush to war and how they spin it to justify their positions. Sound familiar? There is a lot of swearing and shouting in this film and whilst some of it is quite sharp and funny, a lot of it gets quite wearing by the end. The satire and points raised are quite good and the dry British wit and stiff upper lip and American Bombastic attitudes are wonderfully mocked. The cast is pretty good and play their respective roles in a very deadpan way, Gandolfini is especially good as a Pentagon general. This film has some genuinely humorous moments in it and some biting sarcasm, but you come away startled at the thought that things like this may actually happen in the centres of power around the world and whilst it may be funny to watch for just over 90 minutes, in reality it may be a very scary world we live in!

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I don't know how funny this would be the second or third time around, but it was pretty funny the first. What we have is the run-up to an invasion of an unnamed Middle Eastern country with the focus on American and Brit governmental operatives as some advance the program and others try to stop it. It's an over-the-top satirical comedy, a kind of burlesque version of the real run-up prior to the invasion of Iraq.

Tom Hollander stars as a nice boy minister who wants to stop the war train. Peter Capaldi plays some kind of Brit gov attack dog with a bad case of coprolalia who enjoys nothing more than humiliating subordinates and the occasional Yank as he salivates about the marvelous maiming and killing to come. David Rasche plays Linton Barwick the American Secretary of...well they don't say, but it would be Defense. Rasche has the voice and mannerisms of the real Secretary of Defense during the Iraq War (Donald Rumsfeld) down pat. Rasche's parody of the ultimate micromanaging war-nit was for me the highlight of the movie.

There's a nice comedic take on the relationship between Karen Clarke, who plays an American assistant secretary and her intern played by Anna Chlumsky resulting in a lampoon of polticos running helter-skelter as they go about managing the ship of state.

Everything is lickity-split. The dialogue comes at you like water from a fire hose, and everybody is just drunk with nerd-gov power. There is a certain truth behind the sexually demeaning expletives coming out of just about everybody's mouth, revealing a kind of repressed macho that is the dream of persons in positions of petty power. The script and the improvs by the actors set a new high water mark in the creative use of not only the f-word but in the expression of the myriad ways one can get really hosed in various orifices.

Anyway, "In the Loop" is good for a one-time viewing with many laughs and some insight into the stupidities of our glorious leaders and their staffs.