Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2858 in DVD
• Released on: 2009-08-24
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Format: PAL
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 106 minutes

Synopsis
IN THE LOOP finds writer/director Armando Iannucci expanding his critically acclaimed satire THE THICK OF IT for the big screen and features a cast including Peter Capaldi (TORCHWOOD), James Gandolfini (THE SOPRANOS), Tom Hollander (PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN), Peter Capaldi (THE THICK OF IT), Steve Coogan (I'M ALAN PARTRIDGE) and former child star Anna Chlumsky (MY GIRL). The foul-mouthed comedy follows the US President and UK Prime Minister as they conspire to start a war and promote is as a 'good thing'. US General Miller (Gandolfini) disagrees, as does British Secretary of State for International Development, Simon Foster (Hollander). When the mild-mannered minister appears on TV, is quoted out of context and made to look like he endorses the conflict, he suddenly finds his every move under the watchful eye of the PM's amoral chief of communications (Capaldi). The Brits soon find themselves in Washington and at the centre of what will become an insurmountable 'mountain of conflict'.

Customer Reviews

In The Loop
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!!!

Genius
I wished this had been released a few years ago when the Irak war was still high in the political agenda and ,although the timing is not perfect ( hence the low box office takings ) the movie is an example of perfect comedy genius.

The humour is dry, intelligent and at times subtle but nevertheless brilliant.

For those familiar with the "In the thick of it " no introductions are needed but for the rest of us , the plot follows a classical slip of the tongue form a junior minister that turn into a political storm pre Irak invasion. So the team had to travel to America to put things right , just to make them worse.

The laughs are almost one very 30 seconds and I laughted all the way to end.

Armando Iannuci direction can only be compared to Kubrick in Dr Strangelove in the perfect timing and sense of comedy.

5 out of 5

Disappointing
After watching the first half hour, I could not believe that this film was supposed to be a 'Weapon of mass hilarity'. I had thought that this film would be something like "The Office" meets "Yes Prime Minister" but it wasn't. It didn't seem to go anywhere, and wasn't really funny at all. One character, who reminded me of a stereotypical 'football manager' spent most of his time swearing at everyone else. I came back into the film not long before the end, my husband had persevered with it to see if it had got any better. He told me that it hadn't.