Satire has never been this searingly astute and funny in a story where Washington and Westminster are desperately trying to control the media spin on a possible Middle-east war.
In the Loop (2009)
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Reviews Counted:129
Fresh:122
Rotten:7
Average Rating:7.8/10
Consensus: In the Loop is an uncommonly funny political satire that blends Dr. Strangelove with Spinal Tap for the Iraq war era.
Theatrical Release:Jul 24, 2009 Limited
Box Office: $2,251,324
Synopsis: IN THE LOOP is a fast-paced, lancet-witted ensemble comedy from first-time film director Armando Iannucci, based on his satirical BBC sitcom, THE THICK OF IT. The film tracks the lies,... IN THE LOOP is a fast-paced, lancet-witted ensemble comedy from first-time film director Armando Iannucci, based on his satirical BBC sitcom, THE THICK OF IT. The film tracks the lies, misunderstandings, good and bad intel, and PR blunders that escalate into a full-blown (fictional) crisis in the Middle East over the course of a few days, in a few conversations and meetings, in a few corridors of British and American power. Though played for laughs, the movie demonstrates how the most incidental factors (leaked papers, hastily spoken soundbites) and players (aides, interns, and low-level government officials) can influence the course of history. The pitch-perfect cast does a great job with Iannucci's script, improvising just enough to maintain the pseudo-documentary feel of the TV show. Even when the action gets loose and rollicking, the tone is tightly controlled satire, and the humor emerges organically from the situations and relationships at hand. Peter Capaldi, reprising his TV role, is hilarious as a foulmouthed, perpetually het-up Director of Communications for the British Prime Minister. Mimi Kennedy gives a droll but heartfelt performance as an antiwar U.S. diplomat and shares some touching and funny scenes with a more subdued than usual James Gandolfini as a U.S. general with surprising views on war. And Tom Hollander quietly steals the show as the hapless British Secretary of State for International Development whose careless remark in an interview sets off the events that catapult him into deeper waters than he has ever been in. [More]
Starring: Peter Capaldi, Tom Hollander, Gina McKee, James Gandolfini
Starring: Peter Capaldi, Tom Hollander, Gina McKee, James Gandolfini, Chris Addison, Mimi Kennedy, Steve Coogan, Anna Chlumsky
Director: Armando Iannucci
Director: Armando Iannucci
Screenwriter: Armando Iannucci, Jesse Armstrong, Tony Roche, Simon Blackwell
Producer: Kevin Loader, Adam Tandy
Composer: Adem Ilhan
Studio: IFC Films
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Reviews for In the Loop
It's fantastic stuff, so over-the-top, so scabrous, so bitterly brilliant that you have to assume that, on some level, it rings true.
A relentlessly foul-mouthed political satire about an obscene process: the fabrication of a phony case for war to justify U.S. and British plans to invade the Middle East.
With that singularly British way of being clever and deliriously juvenile all at once, it's a scathing, laugh-out-loud bit of big-screen satire.
In the Loop is nonstop, go-go-go verbal action that makes Wag the Dog seem like a mind-numbing cricket match.
Think of it as a celebration of the craft of screenwriting. This British comedy is dense with brilliant, profane and telling dialogue, with laugh-out-loud zingers that just keep coming and coming -- though few can be quoted here.
It's as if Jane Austen and Monty Python collaborated on an episode of The West Wing...
If the corridors of power really are this dysfunctional, let's at least hope they're this funny, too.
The first thing that marks In The Loop as a break from the norm is its refusal to flatter the viewer's intelligence; the second, is the way the film forces them to use it.
There mayn't have been a funnier screenplay this year -- but the laughs are bitter ones.
In the Loop skewers the recent Bush administration without resorting to the childish name-calling which sunk 'W.'
The plot of this film is impenetrable but the dialog is hilarious and comes a staccato pace. This is a comedy of political backbiting, in-fighting, and out-fighting.
Whereas several recent films like the pompous 'Lions for Lambs' presented the current war in a didactically solemn tone, Iannucci has more to say by simply playing the crisis for laughs.
Painfully funny satire of British and American bureaucrats in the days leading up to the Iraq War.
It's one verbal skirmish after another, dominated by Capaldi, whose character is smoothly offensive and determined, dropping F-bombs with natural ease.
The film, while often very funny, is so relentlessly savage it could destroy whatever shred of respect you may still retain for politicians and that flogged horse called democracy.
This politically savvy, satirical piece deserves to be seen by as many people as possible. The way the film shows governmental 'war rooms' as being beset by petty, personal conflicts is positively enlightening.
One of the year's most intelligent (scripts), unifying political intrigue and backroom muckraking with stinging, pop-culture putdowns.
Latest News for In the Loop
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May 25, 2009:
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