LAFF ‘09 Review: In the Loop

In the Loop – UK 2009
Directed by Armando Iannucci. Starring Peter Capaldi, Tom Hollander, Chris Addison, Gina McKee, Mimi Kennedy, James Gandolfini, Anna Chlumsky, David Rasche and Steve Coogan.

Summer Showcase

Based on The Thick of It, the BBC TV comedy about the inner workings of British government, In The Loop is the kind of dialogue-based comedy where you miss jokes because you’re still laughing at the one that came before it. Writer/Director Armando Iannucci has reassembled his writing team of Jess Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Ian Martin and Tony Roche and they’re joined by several Thick cast members including Peter Capaldi, Chris Addison, James Smith and Joanna Scanlan.

Tom Hollander (Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest) plays a low-level government minister during the run-up to the recent Iraq war who labels the possibility of war “unforeseeable” when cornered by the voracious British press. By taking any kind of stand, he becomes a pawn between pro and anti-war forces on both sides of the Atlantic. In classic British fashion, he’s the wrong man saying the wrong thing in the wrong place at the wrong time and the likelihood of war hangs in the balance.

This is a strong ensemble cast of UK and US actors, but the real standout is Peter Capaldi (Local Hero) reprising his role as Malcom Tucker, the foul-mouthed lead government communications director trying to spin the story one way and then another as it spirals rapidly out of his and everyone’s control. Looking as though he’s just swallowed a cup of piss, Capaldi is astringently hilarious directing his verbally aggressive rage at one character and then another, a constant stream of exfoliating sewage issuing from his mouth indiscriminately.

On the American side, Mimi Kennedy is great as a slightly unhinged US diplomat who is against the war and James Gandolfini is also funny as her ally, an equally twisted desk-bound general. David Rasche is uniquely loony as their enemy, a pro-war State Department official. Steve Coogan meanwhile has a funny cameo as a Brit citizen with some decidedly down-to-earth governmental demands.

The humor in In the Loop has a nasty, bitter edge to it magnified by the notion that pro-war and anti-war forces are driven more by career considerations than ideology. The film itself doesn’t take a stand on war, other than to suggest that neither the government nor the military are particularly qualified to be waging it.

Some of the accented, rapid-fire dialogue is hard to follow at times, but it shouldn’t be too much of a problem for veterans of BBC programming. As with most comedies, the humor sags in portions but on the whole delivers more belly laughs than most comedies.

Highly recommended for fans of the show and British comedy in general, In the Loop premiered at Sundance ‘09 and will make its limited US release on July 24th.

Filed under: Film Festivals, Reviews
Tags: Anna Chlumsky, Armando Iannucci, Chris Addison, David Rasche, Gina McKee, In the Loop, James Gandolfini, LAFF, Los Angeles Film Festival, Mimi Kennedy, Peter Capaldi, Steve Coogan, Tom Hollander