Film
What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases
Bookmark this pageIn the Loop (2009)
Director: Armando Iannucci
Movie review
From Time Out London
Cover your eyes: is this another well-loved sitcom dying an embarrassing death on the big screen? Far from it – Armando Iannucci has turned his satirical series ‘The Thick of It’ into a film that sparkles with the same filthy humour, spoken by the same morally empty vessels in the same mundane corridors of power that marked the brilliant TV version. Shaky cameras, bad suits and crappy furnishings don’t automatically equal documentary-style reality – but combined with smart performances and a politically astute script that wisely sidesteps specifics but feeds on the tenor of real events, they go a long way to achieving it. It’s also a welcome celebration of polished and engaged comic writing that very rarely feels laboured and always feels that it has a serious point to make amid the ample gags.Iannucci and his team give the world of ‘The Thick of It’ a filmic spin by unfolding their story on either side of the Atlantic and guessing what may happen behind closed doors in Whitehall and Washington DC in the lead up to a contentious conflict in the Middle East. But much is familiar. Peter Capaldi returns as the Prime Ministerial attack dog Malcolm Tucker – think Alastair Campbell with rabies – and Chris Addison is again an ineffective Whitehall flunky whose lacks of scruples extend to blaming infidelity on his peacenik tendencies.
Tom Hollander very effectively picks up where Chris Langham left off: a fall guy for the conspiracies and gags of others, he’s the new, inexperienced, vaguely idealistic but vain Secretary of State for International Development who becomes a pawn for hawks and doves on either side of the pond when he accidentally supports and then denounces war in two disastrous media appearances. In Washington, James Gandolfini offers one of the film’s few moral centres as an army general against conflict because he’s been there and knows it’s horrific.
It’s not easy to transfer the spirit of a half-hour show to a feature film, and there are some chapters that drag, especially when Capaldi, who gets all the best lines, disappears from view. But mostly Iannucci keeps the pace up with snappy twists and turns, a tone that mixes screwball with precise observation and by keeping a keen eye on the performances of even minor characters, such as the over-achieving, barely legal automatons that pepper the offices of Washington. It’s a film that is both insanely funny and a desperate cry for sanity.
Author: Dave Calhoun
Time Out London Issue 2017, 16-22 April 2009
User reviews of this film
-
- Geddy said...
- Posted on May 18 2009 12:26 Fast-paced, subversive, rude and laugh-out-loud funny. I loved it and would watch again.
- Report as inappropriate
-
- annthedan said...
- Posted on May 15 2009 10:07 boring beyond belief. sorry folks - Hugh and Mike are right in their comments.
- Report as inappropriate
-
- Mike said...
- Posted on May 13 2009 17:20 A poor imitation of 60s satire. How on earth Iannuchi can want credit for such a roughly-put-together schoolboy presentation is hard to understand. Don't waste your time.
- Report as inappropriate
-
- Sutton said...
- Posted on May 11 2009 14:14 A humourous political satire, though a tad disappointing if you have seen the TV show as it doesn't really add much for being on at the cinema. Neverthess, great to see an English satire on the big screen.
- Report as inappropriate
-
- Richard Jeremy said...
- Posted on May 09 2009 16:34 Was sceptical when I went to see this, because although Ianucci's usually good, TV-series-becoming-films don't have a good record and political comedy can often be too shallow and relying on easy, cynical laughs. However, this is great stuff. Spot on dark humour and laugh-while-you-cringe agony that had the whole of the cinema giggling through fingers.
- Report as inappropriate
-
- Hugh said...
- Posted on May 08 2009 13:01 This must be one of the worst films ever. It's the first time I have walked out during a film. Tried to endure for more than the 80 minutes I watched this puerile humour - puerile apart from the use of obscenities in every sentence. Save your money.
- Report as inappropriate
-
- usman khawaja said...
-
Posted on Apr 28 2009 15:59
this is a sharp reminder that COEN BROTHERS have been desperately trying to write a clone of this sharp black comedy but they need more then an empty style to achieve an intelligent coup in this genre .
the whole anglo american conglomerate of war on TERROR with spin doctors and the intelligence dossiers and lies about WMDS are taken for a ride in a hilarious travesty of the current milieu while at the same time you are pathetically aware that nothing is going to change ever and the bertayal and deception will last while the culprits offer a sacrificial goat picked at random and that is what makes this rather lunatic and wry movie quite subtle and bittersweet too .
the characters and the political pastiche and the foul steet language used in the highest echelons of sophisticated governing bodies only is trying to emphasize how disappointingly average and ordinary humanity is at all levels .
the immorality here though is rendered like a souffle and it tastes good even though at times the whole thing is overcooked .
i really do not see how anyone will not be amused by this political satire on our society as this also reflects virtually not just politicians but other fields of life in the way the characters behave and communicate without any logical rationale to achieve their ego mania -
it the best docu drama narrative i have seen in quite a while and it was not trying to philosophize stylize ,or sermonise like the rest of the cinematic buffoons ,on the contrary this is quality rendered as quietly scalding humour and frifghteningly to ignore . - Report as inappropriate
-
- oldbrit said...
- Posted on Apr 26 2009 13:42 Loved the TV series, particularly Roger Allam. Pity they couldn't cast him in the movie but it was still hilarious and painfully accurate.
- Report as inappropriate
-
- Lady Lee said...
- Posted on Apr 22 2009 12:05 Was persuaded to go but didn't really want to - very glad I did as it is a film I would see again. Very laugh out loud funny and clever & makes people think that politics isn't all boring & humdrum
- Report as inappropriate
-
- Tim said...
-
Posted on Apr 21 2009 16:50
This is not a subject worthy of satire or attempted humour, what it is worthy of is mass prosecution and imprisonment. Entering this world of simpering power players even in satire was stomach churning, imagining the inane reality of all the desk murderers on,
both sides of the Atlantic made it even worse .Attempts to draw humour from the events of the last few years simply trivialises the whole criminal freakshow.
I was in a semi full screen untouched by any laughter apart from three stoners who cackled incessantly at any mention of 'cock' , balls' et al- the writing in general was quite pubescent.
Avoid. - Report as inappropriate
-
- Anna said...
- Posted on Apr 21 2009 11:14 Can't remember the last time i laughed outloud from start to finish through a film, excellent.
- Report as inappropriate
-
- mina said...
- Posted on Apr 20 2009 13:57 clever, funny, makes you think.
- Report as inappropriate
-
- AJ said...
- Posted on Apr 20 2009 11:26 Brilliant, go see it!!!
- Report as inappropriate
-
- baillie said...
- Posted on Apr 19 2009 11:25 I havent seen the TV series but i want to now. I found myself waiting for the two scottish guys to come on screen to here was abuse they could shout out next , some truly hilarious one liners in it, and plenty of them .
- Report as inappropriate
-
- blueboyalx said...
- Posted on Apr 17 2009 17:54 I was really looking forward to seeing this and caught the second showing in town today. I have to say I was a little disappointed, I am a great fan of the television series and thought although there were some cracking lines in it (Capaldi is on top form as Tucker!) it seemed to lack something that kept me from loving it. To anyone who hasn't seen the tv series....go get it, it's brilliant!
- Report as inappropriate
Cast & crew
Director: Armando Iannucci
Cast: Chris Addison, James Gandolfini, Steve Coogan, Tom Hollander, Gina McKee, Peter Capaldi, David Rasche, Anna Chlumsky, Mimi Kennedy full cast
Genre(s): Comedy
Rated: 15
Duration: 106 mins
UK Release: Apr 17 2009
US Release: Jul 24 2009
Most popular on this site
Top Stories
Ang Lee talks 'Taking Woodstock'
Ang Lee talks to Tom Huddleston about his tale of the men behind history’s greatest music festival
Hippies who work for The Man
To celebrate George Clooney comedy 'The Men who Stare at Goats', we look back at six memorable onscreen hippies who fought the system from within
Roland Emmerich's guide to disaster movies
Ahead of the release of '2012', Roland Emmerich offers his ten tips on creating the perfect global catastrophe
Grant Heslov: interview
Grant Heslov, director of 'The Men who Stare at Goats' talks about his old pal George Clooney, his interest in the paranormal, and his fond memories of working on 'Happy Days'
The Coen brothers discuss 'A Serious Man'
Masters of contrary comedy, Joel and Ethan Coen have struck gold again with their latest, ‘A Serious Man’
Ten inspirations behind 'Avatar'?
Time Out ponders the influences behind James Cameron's anticipated space-opera on the basis of the trailer
Michael Haneke: The man behind the menace
From Cannes to Munich to London, Dave Calhoun tours Michael Haneke's Palme d'Or winner, 'The White Ribbon'
How Jane Campion brought John Keats back to life
Time Out gets Romantic with the ‘difficult’ New Zealander about her new film, 'Bright Star'
Time Out's 50 greatest animated films with commentary by Terry Gilliam
In celebration of the release of Pixar's 'Up' and Wes Anderson's 'Fantastic Mr Fox', read our rundown of fifty classic feature length animations
What do you think?
Post your review now