In the Loop (2009)

Director:

Armando Iannucci

Writers:

Harold P. Manning (French adaptation) and
Jesse Armstrong (written by)

Release Date:

17 April 2009 (UK)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

The fate of the world is on the line.

Plot:

The US President and UK Prime Minister fancy a war. But not everyone agrees that war is a good thing...

Plot Keywords:

Vote | Wall | Committee | Lieutenant General | Middle East

Awards:

1 win & 6 nominations

Cast

Peter Capaldi	...	Malcolm Tucker
Tom Hollander	...	Simon Foster
Gina McKee	...	Judy Molloy
James Gandolfini	...	Lt. Gen. George Miller
Chris Addison	...	Toby Wright
Anna Chlumsky	...	Liza Weld
Enzo Cilenti	...	Bob Adriano
Paul Higgins	...	Jamie MacDonald
Mimi Kennedy	...	Karen Clarke
Alex Macqueen	...	Sir Jonathan Tutt
Johnny Pemberton	...	A.J. Brown
Olivia Poulet	...	Suzy
David Rasche	...	Linton Barwick
Joanna Scanlan	...	Roz
James Smith	...	Michael Rodgers

Runtime:

106 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

UK:15 | Ireland:15A | New Zealand:R13 | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:14A (Ontario) | Canada:18A (British Columbia) | Singapore:M18 | Norway:A

Filming Locations:

London, England, UK

Company:

BBC Films

Trivia:

The shooting script after thirty days of filming was 237 pages long. The first cut of the film was 4.5 hours long. The final edit took four months to complete.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: General Miller (James Gandolfini) is wearing a unit patch on his left shoulder. However, officers assigned to the Pentagon, since they are not officially assigned to units, do not wear a shoulder patch. At the apparent time of the movie (pre-Iraq), even the current generic square US Army patch was not as yet authorized.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Malcolm Tucker: Good morning, my little chicks and cocks.

Movie Connections:

References I Heart Huckabees (2004)

Soundtrack:

Allegro from Concerto grosso in G minor

We May Have Found Summer's Sleep with 'In The Loop', America

Political comedy is a hard stunt to pull off. Ever since 1964, it seemed like nothing could top Dr. Strangelove. A lot of movies have tried and a lot have failed, although there were the lucky few that passed the bar (Election, Thank You for Smoking) but the brilliant thing about In The Loop is that it's so stupidly funny that it's one of the best comedies of the 21st Century! Armando Iannucci, most known for his The Thick of It series in the UK, directs a movie with the a the familiar theme of The Office. That documentary-style of film-making can be hit-or-miss (most recently, Public Enemies, a miss) and Iannucci hits it right on. Every scene he graces with a camera comes out picture perfect; nobody could've pegged this movie any better. Iannucci, Jesse Armstrong, Tony Roche and Simon Blackwell's script is something out of picture show heaven and sounds like it must've taken forever to finish, edit, revise, etc. Although these guys, these geniuses, apparently know what they're doing and don't care what anybody else says. That is the heart and soul of movie-making, readers. In The Loop is about a corrupt British government that accidentally gets the country thrown into the middle of a war. Loop stars Peter Capaldi, Gina McKee, James Gandolfini, Chris Addison and there's even a whimsical cameo by Steve Coogan. Capaldi is the absolute best at what he did, spewing swears as coarse as they are a riot ("fuck you, you lubricated horse cock!") and freaking out. I can't even put into words just how funny this guy was; he made the movie! But don't forget Addison as Toby. Addison is the British Napoleon Dynamite, that incredibly awkward guy that makes even the audience members turn red. James Gandolfini and Gina McKee round out the rest of the cast greatly, filling In The Loop with the type of sexual tension that you don't want to think about. It's like when a sex scene pops up on a DVD you're watching with your parents. Yeah, that bad.In The Loop is one of the most laugh out loud comedies I've seen in the past decade, that sadly nobody will get a chance to watch. In a world of Transformers and G.I Joe, In The Loop will sadly be ignored. But on an optimistic note, we may have found this summer's sleeper, America.

5/5 stars.