In The Loop

In the Loop is possibly one of the funniest films I have never seen. In fact, I don't think anyone has seen it. It's ironic that everyone I've spoken to about In the Loop where in fact not in the loop about this film even being in existence. This is a shame as it is possibly one of the best examples of political satire I have seen since…well, I couldn't remember.
 
Taking some of the basic elements from the award-winning TV series, The Thick of It, writer and director Armando Iannucci, has crafted a perfect take on both UK and USA governments and their actions concerning war. British Secretary of State for International Development Simon Foster (Tom Hollander) is quoted as saying 'war is unforeseeable' and is immediately leapt upon by the Prime Minister's Communications Chief (Peter Capaldi) in an effort for Foster to 'follow the line', inbetween a tirade of abuse that no matter how many times I hear it I still burst into fits of laughing: '"Climbing the mountain of conflict"? You sounded like a Nazi Julie Andrews!' Foster is sent to Washington (not before attending to a constituent's wall- a superb cameo by Steve Coogan) with his new aide Toby (Chris Addison) and locks horns with US Assistant Secretary for Diplomacy Karen Clarke (Mimi Kennedy) and her aide Liza (Anna Chlumsky-who I'd not seen since My Girl) and also General Miller (James Gandolfini). The film revolves around the thought of war, who it would benefit, how it would benefit and just how inept the politicians who deal with it all actually are. So basically, like real life really!
 
The style of filming with a pseudo-documentary style that takes it away from the glamour of The West Wing and more into the almost the mundanity of something like The Office. This all works perfectly with the whole ensemble working together to create moments of wondrous satirical comedy. Performances by Hollander and Capaldi are amazing and watching Capaldi's rants is like watching Basil Fawlty in his prime. I only have two issues with this film, the first being the Americans. Unlike something like A Fish Called Wanda in which the mix of the British and American actors worked with the comedy, in this film it seemed a little jarring. It feels like the British cast are trying to make a comedy, while the Americans are trying to make a serious political drama. If it wasn't for the general prancing of Chad (Zach Woods) as the suck up intern trying to get brownie points from every senior member of staff, these scenes would be bland and boring to watch. It is Gandolfini who is the most disappointing as Miller and it seems his only reason for being in this film is to lend the film a bit of promotional muscle which is a shame, as most of his performance involves him eating and his only highlight involves him using a child's calculator to estimate how many troops America has available for a war.
 
The second problem is that the film feels too much like the TV series and much like the recent Futurama films (which are much better in the American edited 'episode' versions) the premise doesn't hold up well for almost two hours. Despite the fact I enjoyed it (and I really did), if you asked me what happens in this film I'd have difficulty and to be honest I'd probably just say it's a political satire and leave it at that. The characters weave in and out of each other without really developing and so you never get attached to anyone and you end up waiting for Capaldi to enter the screen just so you can hear another wonderful outburst 'I know you're sensitive about swearing so F, star, star, C**T!'
 
The disk is packed with almost a half hour of deleted scenes which could almost be watched as an episode of the TV show, some odd Webisodes which are more or less just a collection of the deleted scenes or highlights from the actual film. All of this is still great to view and though I can understand why it was cut for pacing/length etc. it is still worth a look. Almost an hour's worth of interviews with some of the cast and director are great to see how they approached the material and though a behind the scenes would have been nice, this is an adequate substitute when coupled together with the commentary. This commentary (Armando Iannucci, Tom Hollander, Peter Capaldi, Chris Addison and Gina McKee) reminded of the ones from Blackbooks or The League of Gentlemen as it really has a friendly-feel to it. Rather than being one or two people trying to tell me about camera angles, lighting and how difficult a shot was, it is simply a group of people all talking about a film that it seems they all genuinely enjoyed making.
 
In The Loop should have been a shot in the arm for the world, instead it seems to have fallen under the radar. Maybe if it had been released while George W was still messing up the planet it would have had more of an effect. However, because we are living in a 'Change' Obama world it seems that the Republican- dominated hypocrisy that the film depicts maybe a thing of the past. Or possibly this film could serve as a scary prediction of things to come.