'In The Loop' --A Review

Fans of the British show, The Thick Of It and the American show Veep will recognize many of the actors and the biting, beautiful satire and the artfully crafted, beautiful, breathtaking profanity that are the hallmarks of Armando Iannucci and Company and are on fine display in their feature film, In The Loop.  

A biting satire chronicling the build up to a war in the Middle East, In The Loop begins with an accidental slip of the tongue: During an interview with the BBC, a Minister for International Development, Simon Foster (Tom Hollander) says that a war in the Middle East is 'unforeseeable.'  Told off for not remaining neutral by the Prime Minister's enforcer/spin doctor, Malcolm Tucker (Peter Capaldi)- Foster then compounds his mistake by saying there may be a need to 'climb the mountain of conflict.'  The contradictory statements by Foster coincide with the visit of high ranking State Department officials, who jump on Foster's quotes and begin to drag him into a high stakes of spin as the path to another Middle East war begins to accelerate.

Sent to Washington for some damage control, Foster and his hapless aide Toby (Chris Addison) are drawn into a power play on the other side of the Atlantic as an Army General (James Gandolfini) and a high level diplomat in the State Department (Mimi Kennedy) and her aide (Anna Chulmsky) wage a battle of spin against pro-war factions in the American government, lead by Linton Barwick (David Rasche)- in the end, pro-war spin, inevitably, holds sway and although Tucker and Barwick revel in their victory, they know it's a bitter one.

Man oh man oh man, where to begin with this movie?  If anything serves as a bridge between Iannucci's British television show and his American one, this would be the closest thing to it- large chunks of the cast will be recognizable as veterans of The Thick Of It and Anna Chulmsky shows up again on Veep in a similar role and it works beautifully.  The satire is razor sharp (as expected) and the profanity, wow, the profanity- I think it's not quite on the same level as either television show, but it rises to great heights and it's breathtaking to behold.  It sort of boggles the mind that Peter Capaldi is going to be the new Doctor Who given how refreshingly profane he is.

The commentary on modern politics and how it actually works is more than a little depressing- after all, in a world where spin is king, facts don't matter anymore, do they?  And even if they get in the way, they can easily be changed to whatever the narrative demands of it.  The humor is dark, the insults fly wonderfully, though I think the crew from The Thick Of It maybe, maaaaaaaaybe dialled it back a little for the cinematic audience, but James Gandolfini's turn as a General who has seen war and is in no hurry to have civilians drag him back into it just about steals the entire movie.

Overall:  powerful dark comedy, biting satire and the bridge between two excellent television shows, In The Loop is excellent, plain and simple and required viewing if you're a fan of either The Thick Of It or Veep.   With a great cast, great writing and sharp performances all around I'd say **** out of ****.