In the Loop

This movie is a spinoff of the superior series The Thick of It, and it just feels like a longer, rather low-key episode. I might have liked the movie better if I had seen it without seeing the series, but coming off of the show I was a bit disappointed. For some reason the scenes with the American actors feel kind of flabby. Just watch the show, it's brilliant. I tell people that if they don't like it at first, they should skip to Season 3, which is a good jumping-on point as it introduces a new lead minister, and is where the show really starts to shine.And just to allay confusion—the movie is kind of an "alternate universe" from the show. Malcolm Tucker (Peter Capaldi) is the same, but all the other actors are playing new characters and not their characters from the show.

I'd seen this film once before and had trouble finding it online on either Netflix or Amazon Prime. So I bought it. No regrets. It's funnier than I'd remembered. Worth multiple viewings, mostly because I was laughing so hard, I missed a lot of the dialog and jokes.At its heart, this is a send-up on the so-called permanent government -- both in the US and the UK -- that stays on while the power shifts back and forth between political parties. In fact, their disdain for elected officials is palpable and provides the basis for much of the humor. I will be watching this again and again.

This film was based on a TV show in Britain called The Thick of It (sort of a modern Yes, Minister). The TV series is much more enjoyable than the movie. I would recommend watching the TV series over this film. While I highly recommend the TV series, please note there are several "four letter" words in almost every sentence. It's hard to describe, but it fits with the show and works (in my opinion). The main character speaks English with a Scottish accent so you may want to use subtitles if you are not Scottish or do not have a good ear for accents. But maybe that's just me. I use subtitles for everything from TV, movies, sports, and even the evening news.

This is a political satire with the cynical verbal barbs of British humor. I enjoyed it for many reasons which I will explain in this review. It is primarily about spin. By this I mean that the film is mainly about British and American politicians and bureaucrats trying to control the message, threaten their colleagues if they stray from the message, adapt quickly when conditions change and thus the message needs to change, multiple ways to deceive, and ways to cover your fingerprints as you try to turn every situation into a career win rather than a career loss. Sound familiar? Yes, every type of careerist is characterized here but with their weaknesses revealed exponentially.Peter Capaldi plays the Director of Communications for the British Prime Minister. As such he has to keep the rest of the government on message. Whenever an official in government strays off message, he goes crazy and becomes a threatening profanity filled demon to bring them back in line. Unfortunately for the naïve Secretary of International Development Simon Foster, played perfectly by Tom Hollander, he lets a personal opinion about Mid-east tensions slip in an interview. Simon is a good fellow who is totally over his head in the insane world of cut-throat politics. He plays the role of the gentle fool, he tries to be wise and ends up sounding foolish, and he becomes a ping pall ball in the political discourse as the United States and Great Britain move toward an invasion of an unnamed country. On Simon’s staff is his Communications Director, Judy Malloy, played by the exceptional actress Gina McKee. She also plays Caterina Sforza in the epic series, The Borgias, with Jeremy Irons as Pope Alexander VI. If there is a character that may serve as the moral center of the film, the observer of all the chaos and miscommunication, it is Judy Malloy. Her boss is not very supportive, a new understudy is hired for the office, and the Director of Communication for the Prime Minister is openly hostile toward her as if it is her fault that Simon Foster makes idiotic but well meaning comments to the press that are twisted for political ends. Chris Addison plays the new communications assistant in Simon’s office, Toby Wright, and he creates one crisis after another with his careless leaks to the press. There is a wonderful scene where he is caught having a one-night-stand with an old graduate school friend and his excuses and denials provide a miniature example of the spin being practiced by the more senior statesmen in the film.On the American side of the equation, things are almost as idiotic. Two dueling Assistant Secretaries of State try to continually out play each other as the United States moves toward an invasion of another country. Mimi Kennedy plays Assistant Secretary Clark whose bright young assistant, played by Anna Chlumsky, has done a policy analysis and found many more disadvantages of an invasion compared to advantages. She also has discovered that the British intelligence source, Iceman, is highly unreliable. What is portrayed so well here is that competition exists at multiple layers of organizations with folks most competitive with people at their own level. Mimi Kennedy is outstanding in this film. Her competitor, Assistant Secretary of State for Policy, Linton Barwick, speaks non-sense to continually throw people off his track. He is played by David Rasche. James Gandolfini is also excellent playing the Pentagon general who is trying to protect his career while the pro-war and anti-war forces battle in the policy and press arenas.In the policy world of leaks to the relentless press, distorted and unreliable intelligence sources, careerism and competition, poor message control, and shifting alliances; this political satire sometimes rings all too true. I admit this film is not for everyone. The cursing by Peter Capaldi, while highly creative and imaginative, is also a bit crude. The dialogue is fast and furious and sometimes due to the British accents is hard to understand. However, as a mini-mirror into the world of policy formation, it is right on the money.

This movie arrived just as I was looking for something different to watch. I loved it. People comment a lot about the swearing, but watch as the character Malcolm Tucker adjusts his tone from "longshoreman" (when acting as an Enforcer with everyone in the Ministry of International Development - including the Minister,) to "prep-school" (when dealing with senior American officials). I also found it amusing that this master of the profane was the communications manager to the Prime Minister.The out-takes are also very funny, so don't skip them!I bought this with the idea of watching it before I bought "The Thick of It" in order to gauge how well I would enjoy that series. I placed the order within 24 hours, and expect to be glued to my television for several days, once it is delivered.

However, that’s not the case in this one that comes on strong and stays that way. It also has an excellent cast and the dialog is sometimes staccato style and for those of us who aren’t Brits it took a lot of reading to catch what was being said. If you’ve ever worked in a back biting office environment there’s a lot to relate with in this one that’s often hilarious.

Absolutely hilarious. If you love the thick of it then this is essential viewing. Don't get confused as a few of the tv show actors are playing different characters. Great to see Tom Hollander play the hapless Simon Foster a kinda younger more likeable Hugh Abbot character (Hollander was criminally under used in the thick of it playing opposition trouble shooter Cal "The F☆☆ker" Richards). Malcolm Tucker leads way in tow is his Fierce Attack Dog Jamie McDonald and they tear up Brits and Americans with the Scottish bite. Chris Addison plays Toby a character that is pretty much Olly but in a different department. David Rasche aka Sledgehammer plays a pro war American politician, the late James Gandolfini plays a anti war general which plays perfect off Peter Capaldi. Few other thick of it regulars pop up as well as new faces. Look out for wee cameo from Steve Coogan and American marijuana-themed death metal band Cannabis Corpse.Great bridge for thick of it fans who are looking to get into Veep.Still shot documentary style with minimalist soundtrackGreat movie for great priceWell done Mr Iannucci

The language is outrageously, abysmally, offensively bad, but that is part of the fun. This film is hugely enjoyable. In a very darkly comical way. It's political satire at its very best. If you have issues with politicians and governments, this is definitely for you. If you like Peter Capaldi, or Tom Hollander, or James Gandolfini - ditto. Great fun, great script, great cast, but admittedly not for everybody. There are bound to be those who love it and those who hate it, and that's okay. Personally, I loved it and rated it accordingly, but if you're put off by language, it's probably better to give this one a miss.The DVD is good and it has English subtitles for the hard of hearing. Also plenty extra features: - Commentary with Armando Ianucci, Peter Capaldi, Tom Hollander, Gina McKee, Chris Addison - Deleted Scenes - Interviews (with Armando Ianucci, Gina McKee & Chris Addison, Tom Hollander, Peter Capaldi) - Trailer - Webisodes

The Thick Of It is my all time Fav comedy series (even though not officially a comedy) and this 'add on' movie was meant to see how the Americans would take to it so it has a very American feel. One of the only things I found strange was the fact that the characters are a mish mash of existing Thick Of it people like Jamie and Malcolm who paly themselves and others who play slightly different roles in The Thick Of It to here like Chris Addison who plays a guy called Toby here and Ollie Reeder in Thick of It but both guys literally play the same person , the only thing I could guess what happened was that Ollie at the end of Thick Of it had elevated himself a bit whereas Toby seems more like very early Ollie so perhaps the timeline wasn't going to be right.If your a fan of Veep you will love this film even more as you can see where the origin to all your Fav characters were birthed like Jonah and Amy especially who is the exact same person with a different name.Got mine from Music Magpie for 0.01 plus postage and the disc was perfect so MM high fives for that.

If you like good political comedy then you should have become aware of the BBC TV series `The Thick of It.' However, if this has escaped you then it's probably best to stop reading right now and go and watch it. The bottom line: if you like The Thick of It then you'll like In the Loop.It's basically the same animal, or a `compendium piece' as I've heard it described. Whereas The Thick of It stayed in Britain, In the Loop also takes us to America where we see that U.S. politics is just as jaded and back-stabbing as its U.K. counterpart. The British Prime Minister and the American President fancy starting a war. The only problem is that there really isn't a good argument for starting one. Therefore, America enlists the help of Downing Street's legendary `Enforcer' (or `Director of Communications' to give him his correct title) Malcolm Tucker (perfectly played, as usual, by Peter Capaldi) to come up with some `evidence' which supports the upcoming invasion.Sounds familiar? Well, it should. It's a case of art (sadly) imitating life as comparisons with George and Tony's handling of the invasion of Iraq are evident for all to see.It may not sound like an ideal source for comedy, but, handled well and you'll be cringing at one political mess after another. In fact, politics is probably better this way. At least these politicians are meant to be funny and entertaining. Their real life incarnations cause as many problems, but don't give us any good laughs along the way.The only thing you need to know (if you watched the TV series first) was that only Malcolm Tucker remains the same character. All the other regular faces from the TV show are there, but they play different characters (that confused me the first time I saw it, but eventually I got used to it!).

There can be little disguising this as other than a trenchant satire on the Blair years when British foreign policy was so strongly driven by the determined but never really clearly understood imperatives of the war lobby in Washington on the one hand and the imperatives of media management at home on the other. Ianucci captures the stress, the pettiness, the vanity, the self-serving, the absurdity, the panic and the lunacy of the political narrative as Britain trailed in the wake of American decision making. Peter Capaldi's role as the P.M.'s axeman and fixer Malcolm Tucker (clearly modelled in no way whatsoever on Alastair Campbell, who did not find the film funny) is, as they say, a tour de force. Funny and appalling from start to finish this is a joy. This is where comedy and tragedy become bedfellows, a welcome alternative to the traditional British mix of comedy and embarrassment.