 "The Office" goes to war - a very clever and dark satire on international politics |
| Review Date: July 30, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Nathan Andersen, Florida |
| "In the Loop" is a sharp and witty and funny and depressing take on the office politics of politics. Simon Foster is the ambitious but largely clueless and weak-willed British "minister for international development." When he makes the mistake of suggesting, contrary to the official British position, that an imminent war was "unforeseeable" on a BBC radio interview, he is colorfully and harshly reprimanded by the British press secretary who seems incapable of putting three words together without a creative interjection of expletives. Simon suddenly finds himself in the midst of a power struggle between hawks and doves (both UK and US) and interns and career politicians, some who care about whether the war (ostensibly the war in Iraq, which is never actually mentioned) proceeds and, mostly, others who care more about their own future in politics. The point is that even when it comes to matters of greatest urgency, the petty and small are never far off. It's a clever and very funny take on bureaucracy and international politics, that would be even funnier if it weren't so awfully scary. Shot in the kinetic documentary style made popular on the BBC's Office and its American remake - it may make you dizzy while the wordplay has your head spinning. Definitely worth watching. |
satire on steroids
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| Review Date: August 8, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Daniel B. Clendenin, www.journeywithjesus.net |
| If you like British humor of the Monty Python sort, and are cynical about politics, this caustic, over-the-top satire may be your ticket. It comes at a price, though, with unrelenting vulgarity from start to finish, much of which, I must say, is hilarious. When I watched the movie, people in the theater were laughing aloud; so was I. Amidst international fears about the possibility of an unspecified war, Britain's minister for International Development Simon Foster lets slip an ambiguous affirmation that "war is unforeseeable." His communication chief, Malcolm Tucker, goes ballistic. The crisis requires extensive negotiations with fellow buffoons, spinners, and careerist diplomats in Washington, including teenage-looking interns, minutes of meetings that must be "corrected," and talk of a "war committee." All of this, mind you, without any regard at all for citizens who'll suffer the consequences of their vanity and folly. The message of the film is that, regardless of parties or administrations in both Britain and the US, government is badly broken and deeply dysfunctional. |
Brilliant satire, very very funny.
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| Review Date: November 26, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Oscar's Wilde, England |
If you liked The Office, Spinal Tap and Dr. Strangelove and you also don't mind the very frequent but highly effective use of swearing then this is a must-see movie.
To paraphrase one of the many rants from the British spin doctor, if you don't watch this movie "I'm going to tear out your shinbone, split it in two and stab you to f*****g death with it!" |
If you've decided to start a war in the Middle East, better hope Armando Iannucci doesn't make a movie about it
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| Review Date: August 24, 2009 |
| Reviewer: C. O. DeRiemer, San Antonio, Texas, USA |
This is a flight of far-fetched imagination, of course, but In the Loop imagines that for some reason the United States and Britain, a kind of tail-wagging Britain along for the petting it expects to get, are determined to invade a Middle-eastern country. As in real life, perhaps, In the Loop never gets around to explaining why.
It doesn't need to. When the moist ideologues, the ambitious bureaucrats, the supple young staff members, the high media governmental power-houses, the cautious generals, the well-intentioned stumblers and the cover-your-rear time-servers are through, we not only have a war no one can explain, we have a glorious two hours of startlingly funny profanity, articulate and quick dialogue, festering verbal maneuvers to get the upper-hand and the kind of political wit that seems to come naturally to some British writers. There are no heroes here, just a collection of elected and non-elected public servants, British and American, who are far more concerned with finding advantages in the emergencies of the minute and how they might effect careers than any such concepts as the public good. If war is simply the extension of diplomacy, In the Loop gives us war (with that Middle-eastern country) that is an extension of self-serving jockeying to stay in the loop. In the Loop, let me add quickly again, is a very, very funny movie.
When Simon Foster (Tom Hollander) Britain's bumbling Minister for International Development, says "war is unforeseeable" during a public interview, it appears to some that he has strayed off the government's message of the day. The prime minister's foul-mouthed and powerful press spokesman, Malcolm Tucker (Peter Capaldi) takes action. After stripping off some hide, Tucker sends poor Simon to Washington on a "fact-finding mission" to keep him out of the way. Simon, as usual, just makes things worse. Before long we're seeing how Washington really works, with all those committees, how 10 Downing Street really works, with how the United Nations really works. No one in this movie escapes, even the young, who are as eager to bed each other as they are to climb over each other's bodies to advance their bosses' needs and their own careers.
To match the fast, fast dialogue, In the Loop is blessed with a superb assortment of actors who could step into most real political roles right now. Peter Capaldi as Malcolm Tucker strides through the movie throwing off vivid obscenities. It would be virtually impossible to repeat any of his sentences in front of your mum. Tom Hollander is, as usual, first-rate. He's an excellent actor who manages to gain our sympathy even while bumbling through crises. Just a few of the other great performances come from Gina McKee as Simon Foster's prime aide; Mimi Kennedy as Karen Clarke, a senior State Department official who wants the war talk to slow down and who is just as determined to come out on top; and David Rasche as Linton Barwick, another State Department top official who knows how to organize a secret war committee, how to jovially rewrite minutes to his view and how to actually start a war. When these two share screen time in committee meetings, the self-serving maneuvering is delicious and unnerving. There's not a dud role or a dud actor in the movie.
If you enjoy acerbic political wit at the expense of politicians and public servants who are absolutely sure they know what they're doing (and who we let get away with it), In the Loop is not to be missed. Sure, it's political, but it's funny, with a brittle and corrosive screenplay and some extraordinary actors, most of whom you've probably never heard of. Peter Capaldi is a lead character actor in Britain who also writes and directs. Americans might remember him as the frightened Vera Reynolds in Prime Suspect 3 and as a helpful friend in Smilla's Sense of Snow. Tom Hollander can seemingly play just about anything. I especially liked his flamboyant and drunken Guy Burgess in Cambridge Spies and his quiet, shrewd role as Tom Jericho's boss and protector in Enigma. |
"The Office" goes to war - a very clever and dark satire on international politics
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| Review Date: November 20, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Nathan Andersen, Florida |
"In the Loop" is a sharp and witty and funny and depressing take on the office politics of politics. Simon Foster is the ambitious but largely clueless and weak-willed British "minister for international development." When he makes the mistake of suggesting, contrary to the official British position, that an imminent war was "unforeseeable" on a BBC radio interview, he is colorfully and harshly reprimanded by the British press secretary who seems incapable of putting three words together without a creative interjection of expletives. Simon suddenly finds himself in the midst of a power struggle between hawks and doves (both UK and US) and interns and career politicians, some who care about whether the war (ostensibly the war in Iraq, which is never actually mentioned) proceeds and, mostly, others who care more about their own future in politics. The point is that even when it comes to matters of greatest urgency, the petty and small are never far off. It's a clever and very funny take on bureaucracy and international politics, that would be even funnier if it weren't so awfully scary. Shot in the kinetic documentary style made popular on the BBC's Office and its American remake - it may make you dizzy while the wordplay has your head spinning. Definitely worth watching.
The DVD bonus features are fairly slim, but more than that isn't necessary, since it's the film that matters here: a few deleted scenes, a trailer, english subtitles (might be useful if you get lost with the thick British accents), and spanish subtitles. |
An excellent film that manages to be both scathingily funny and darkly polemical
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| Review Date: September 1, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Robert Moore, Chicago, IL USA |
In the lead up to the Iraq invasion there was more debate about whether there were WMDs than most people remember. Many even say today that everyone thought there were WMDs (or, as Ali G. puts it, BLTs) at the time. I certainly did not. Multiple former UN weapons inspectors stated their opinion that Iraq had neither WMD weapons programs, any stockpile of operable weapons, nor, even if they had had them, any means to deliver them. Scott Ritter, whom the Right immediately sought to discredit because of a minor Internet dating peccadillo, stated with enormous precision what the situation in Iraq was with regard to WMDs. The invasion of Iraq merely confirmed what Ritter, who was the person who had initially determined the breadth and extent of the Iraqi WMD program, was saying before the invasion. Also, the Pew Foundation released a study of all publicly available information (much of it from reports from UN weapons inspectors) concluding that Saddam Hussein had neither weapons nor delivery systems. My point is that I was utterly confident before the invasion of Iraq that there were no WMD and I was pretty convinced that Team Bush had no secret information that would trump what the inspectors had already seen.
But I'm sure we all remember that Bush and Tony Blair and all their subordinates pushed forward all kinds of "proof" for an invasion that they had already decided to undertake.
IN THE LOOP chronicles from a darkly comical point of view those halcyon days leading up to the invasion, replete with pushy, manipulative behind the scenes aides, incompetent cardboard figures of politicians, and third tier bureaucrats. There is political gamemanship, brinksmanship, cajoling, threatening, and attempts to dominate through intimidation and aggressive profanity. This is all spun out through a series of outstanding performances. The cast is a gifted ensemble, though Peter Capaldi is especially compelling as a particularly aggressive British aide. My favorite scene was probably one between an American department head and an American general (played by James Gandolfini) in a child's bedroom, as he adds up key stats on a toy adding machine that makes musical sounds as each key is depressed. And I was especially pleased to see Anna Chlumsky in an important role. Yes, this is the same Anna Chlumsky from MY GIRL from the early nineties. She shouldn't have stayed away for so long.
This is not a film for everyone. Much of the humor is either dark or subtle. And the movie is filmed with Type A personalities strutting about, making life unpleasant for those in positions of lesser power. But the result is an impressive lampooning of the days back before we had actually invaded Iraq. I highly recommend it. |
Fantastically Underwhelming!
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| Review Date: March 8, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Adventure Fan, |
Blu-ray is fantasitc. Movie is underwhelming.
I wanted to love this. If I hear the words "snappy dialogue" "david mamet" "aaron sorkin-esque" etc... I snatch that action up. I'm a dialogue wh*re. (Sorry, I don't know if that word is legal on Amz.) I wanted to love this with all my balls, and it just fell flat. The whole movie. Flat boring flat. For me. And my wife. The night we watched it. Sometimes that happens. But I won't be watching this ever again.
If you already like this. This blu-ray rocks. Picture is phenomenal. Way above average.
Quit reading if you don't want to know why this movie sucks. It's not because it's British. It's not because it's profane. Either it's no longer topical, or it's shallow intelligence. Few of the jokes worked. I don't know. I didn't feel entertained, or enlightened. Maybe I'm dumb. I like satire. But this felt like a cartoon. With a plot less thought out than a Saturday Night Live sketch. If you want to see a portrait of why government and political leaders are Lame On Parade... Check out Matt Latimer's book "Speech*less." That brings both the funny and the pain. "In The Loop" brings the boring.
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Satirizing the Nutjobs and the Nonsense from which Policy Is Made.
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| Review Date: March 19, 2010 |
| Reviewer: mirasreviews, McLean, VA USA |
"In the Loop" was spun off from the Britcom "In the Thick of It", borrowing four of its writers from that television series, but concerns itself exclusively with the run-up to the Iraq War. In London, Minister for International Development Simon Foster (Tom Hollander) declares that "war is unforeseeable" in an interview with the press, evoking the near-hysterical fury of the Prime Minister's foul-mouthed Director of Communications Malcolm Tucker (Peter Capaldi), who knows the PM is plotting the invasion of a Middle Eastern nation in cooperation with the United States. In Washington, Assistant Secretary of State Karen Clark (Mimi Kennedy) is trying to draw attention to the shaky intelligence behind the proposal, if only she can discover which committee of rival Assistant Secretary Linton Barwick (David Rasche) is pushing the war agenda.
Bureaucrats on both sides of the Atlantic maneuver to find out what is going on behind closed doors and how they might stop it -or at least benefit from it, as it is obvious that 10 Downing Street and the White House have already decided on war. It's a satire of Anglo-American relations, of the petty ambitions and underhanded tactics that shape important policies, and of office politics, as bright and beleaguered assistants tussle with one another to keep their careers alive. The pace is frenetic. The language is colorful. The characters are insufferable. It's hilarious.
No one can match the British at political satire, but behavior has gotten cruder since the dignified doublespeak of "Yes, Minister". Everyone is obnoxious. Perhaps it's the influence of reality TV, which also contributes an unsteady camera and quick-cutting. I could have done with less of that. While the sharpest satires distill reality, "In the Loop" exaggerates it, which is not quite as clever. But it is very funny, and at some point it engages the viewer emotionally in the matter at stake, though I don't think it ever does in the characters.
The DVD (MPI 2010): Bonus features include a theatrical trailer (2 1/2 min), a TV spot (30 sec), more than 40 deleted scenes (28 min), and a "Behind the Scenes Featurette" (3 min), which is a short promo with soundbites from some cast members and director Armando Iannucci. Subtitles for the film are available in English SDH and Spanish. |
Smart Funny Terrific
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| Review Date: November 25, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Ardent Henry, Bay Area, CA |
This is the smartest, funniest movie I've seen in ages. It is filled with a multitude of quotable one-liners that me & my friends will be using over & over again. Moreover, it ran for SIX MONTHS here in the Bay Area. It is destined to become a rep-house institution for the next decade and the DVD will become a cult-fave for many.
All I do is work and watch movies, basically, and this is the best film I have seen in years.
Here's my fave quote: "Why don't you take your cheese, and your backlog of Mojo, and your eighth of dope and ____ off!" |
Very disappointing
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| Review Date: July 10, 2010 |
| Reviewer: David Ljunggren, Ottawa, Ontario Canada |
This film was a serious disappointment. In The Loop is a film-length development of the cult British TV series The Thick Of It, which features the daily travails of a hapless government minister and his aides as they spend a large amount of their time battling Malcolm Tucker, the profane and half-insane chief spokesman for the Prime Minister. The episodes are not always funny and can be tough to watch, but they're only half an hour long. This is the first big problem with In the Loop -- while you can survive a half hour dose of The Thick of It, the effect of an hour and 45 minutes is numbing. By the end of the film you're immune to the word play and streams of outrageous language and temper eruptions. You just want the film to end.
The other major flaw to the movie starts the second the cast leaves the centre of the British government in London and moves to Washington. The makers of the film clearly have no idea how the U.S. system or officials or politician really work and so we have a bunch of characters with American accents, supposedly high up in the U.S. executive branch, acting exactly the same way the British ones do, firing off the same volleys of profanity.
Lost in all this is the story of how some American officials are pressing for a war in an unnamed Middle Eastern country and the chaos that ensures when a clumsy and not very intelligent British minister and his press aide stumble into the action. The idea has potential but you won't find much to satisfy you in this mess of a movie. |
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