Seller:Amazon Video On Demand Rating:44 reviews Sales Rank:10,262
Genre:Art House Media:Video On Demand Running Time:106 Minutes
Theatrical Release Date:January 1, 2009 Release Date:February 12, 2010 Availability:Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Synopsis:
2010 Academy Award (R) nominee for best adapted screenplay, and on over 50 Top Ten critics lists, IN THE LOOP is a smart comedy from the acclaimed team who created the award-winning BBC TV comedy series ALAN PARTRIDGE and THE THICK OF IT. The film is drawing instant comparisons to some of the great political and absurdist comedies such as DOCTOR STRANGELOVE, WAG THE DOG, and MONTY PYTHON. With razor-sharp, truly laugh-out-loud dialogue, the film pokes fun at the absurdity and ineptitude of our highest leaders. With everyone looking out for number one and the fate of the free world at stake (but apparently incidental), the hilarious ensemble cast of characters bumbles its way through Machiavellian political dealings across continents and toward comic resolutions that are unforeseeable. This must-see indie comedy from IFC Films stars James Gandolfini, Peter Capaldi and Steve Coogan.
Brilliant satire, very very funny.November 26, 2009 Oscar's Wilde(England) 13 out of 16 found this review helpful
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 itAugust 24, 2009 C. O. DeRiemer(San Antonio, Texas, USA) 13 out of 17 found this review helpful
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.
An excellent film that manages to be both scathingily funny and darkly polemicalSeptember 1, 2009 Robert Moore(Chicago, IL USA) 10 out of 13 found this review helpful
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.
Smart Funny TerrificNovember 25, 2009 Ardent Henry(Bay Area, CA) 8 out of 11 found this review helpful
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!"
Get ready to laugh... a lot.April 2, 2010 Joe Ramsey(Prairie Village, KS, US) 3 out of 4 found this review helpful
"In the Loop" is one of those rare movies that grabs you from the get go and doesn't let loose until the final frame. Blisteringly profane (a full 10 on the "Deadwood" scale), but in a smart way, it received an Oscar nomination for best adapted screenplay this year. In a scenario that is probably (scarily) closer to the truth than not, a very unfortunate British undersecretary responds to a fairly bland question about the possibility of war in the Mideast during a radio interview. A somewhat awkward response to that unexpected question (he was originally talking about diarrheal illness in the third world) triggers a storm of political shenanigans in London and in D.C. As the saying goes, hilarity ensues. James Gandolfini is the only "name" actor (at least for U.S. audiences) in the show, and his not-that-hawkish general is a delight to watch. Peter Capaldi plays the British prime minister's hatchet man with a level of fire and brimstone that is awe inspiring, and his f-bomb laden verbal attacks on... well, pretty much anyone within 100 yards of him, are like jazz riffs of obscenity. Classic stuff, smart, razor sharp. Oh, and don't miss the deleted scenes; they're just a funny as the best bits of the regular feature.
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