In the Loop is a very smart political satire about British and American involvement in the Middle East. The film has many laugh out loud moments and very memorable quotes; it is just beautifully written. Many people may wonder what led these two nations to invade Iraq and this is perhaps not the real reason, but it does touch our funny bone and it`s probably true that many political figures put themselves first and didn`t want to lose their position of power instead of focusing on the real issue at hand. Armando Ianucci, who is mostly known in the UK for his TV series ¨In The Thick of It¨ which is also a political satire that stars Peter Capaldi as Malcolm, directs this brilliant comedy. He also was involved with the screenplay along with Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Tony Roche, and Ian Martin, who all colaborate with him in The Thick of It. In the Loop was nominated for an Oscar for best adapted screenplay and in my opinion it should have won because it was very witty and pulls off some great one liners. This film proves once again that the British are ahead of the Americans in satire, especially political satire. The movie moves really fast, the dialogue is great, and you might find yourself laughing at jokes the second time around that you had missed the first time because In the Loop drops one joke after another at a very fast rate. The performances are great as well; everyone knows that you can`t make people laugh only with a good script, you need to have capable actors that can deliver those funny lines and that is the case with this movie.
The movie opens in middle of an international conflict. There are talks of war in the Middle East and there are anti and pro war groups in both countries. The young British minister for International Development, Simon Foster (Tom Hollander from Pride and Prejudice), is strongly against war, but he really doesn`t know what he is doing and in a recent interview he declares that ¨war is unforseeable.¨ This vague statement wins him friends on both the pro and anti war sides who want to use him to swing the vote in the UN comittee. Malcolm Tucker (Peter Capaldi who plays the same role in the series In the Thick of It) is the Prime Minister`s communiations chief and he is not very happy about Simon`s statement. He tries to use Simon as a puppet and tell him what he should and shouldn`t say. Malcolm has a very aggresive style and drops the f-bomb in every sentence. Simon becomes a key player now and has to travel back and forth to Washington, UK, and NY along with his young assistant, Toby (Chris Addison) who is as clueless as he is on what is going on. The Americans on the anti-war side consist of the Assistant Secretary for Diplomacy, Karen Clarke (Mimi Kennedy), her assistant Liza (Anna Chlumsky from My Girl) who wrote a paper stating the pros and cons of war, and Lieutenant General George Miller (James Gandolfini), along with their staff. On the pro war side we have the US Assistant Secretary for Policy, Linton Barwick (David Rasche), who is forming a secret war comitee that Karen wants to get into and stop. They all seem to manipulate and leak information in order to get what they want.
The movie completely works because the characters deliver every line with perfect timing and the screenplay is just brilliant. The plot might be a little dificult to follow, but it is worth paying attention too. Peter Capaldi gives a very funny performance, although I have to warn you he is very foul mouthed. Every character in the film is manipulated by someone and at the same time is manipulating or intimidating someone else in order to mantain their position of power. They are not really concerned over the casualities of war, they are only concerned about losing credibility and power. There are several funny quotes that you will remember and the movie was just really well constructed. The filming might distract some as it uses a documentary style and shaky camera, but those who are familiar with The Office are already used to this style which gives it a more realistic feeling. Steve Coogan also shows up in the film as a secondary character and he gives a great performance as well. The scene with Coogan only serves to confirm how incompetent Simon really is. Overall the movie is a must see for those who like smart comedies, political satires, and are tired of all the cheap laughs and old familiar jokes of recent lazy comedies.
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Sounds like a def download!
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