In the Loop a Must-See Movie

It was after my "I have to remember that line to tell people" software crashed from too many great lines to remember and my grin-o-meter clicked over to four hundred in a half hour that I realized that I was watching a seriously good movie. A seriously good, topical, deadly satiric, tell-all-your-friends-immediately-to-go-see-it, extremely funny movie.

Good enough in its writing and dialogue delivery to make me think of His Girl Friday. Pay attention when you see it, the words are spoken at warp speed. The great knife of satire, sharp as a Hattori Hanzo blade, slices and dices the political classes of London and Washington with special attention to the media and its manipulators.

Unfortunately named, especially for Chicago, the movie title is the only "off" thing associated with In the Loop. It's a British take on the run up to the Iraq war filmed as if a documentary. But, it is much, much more, putting the moviegoer in the midst of the action as ambition and character are tested by events great and small. Small steps, the movie indicates, are all that are needed to go from getting face time on camera to making decisions that could lead to thousands of deaths. And, it is all too believable.

As is oftentimes said, never sit too close to a ballet and never ever watch sausage being made. In the Loop is a cautionary tale, a morality play by way of "The Colbert Report."

It is, among many other things, the best Iraq War movie yet made. Its tone so insanely sardonic and so inclusively insulting that, whether pro- or anti-war, you'll laugh rather than chalking up political points to argue. Democrat or Republican, you will know in your heart of hearts at movie's end, that this is, indeed, how great events play out in real time.

It's told, for the most part, from the point of view of a feckless, spineless, British Cabinet member who flutters toward the media's bright light like a moth on steroids. Then there is his PR staff, and the PM's PR guy, and Americans aplenty: State Department bureaucrats clawing each others eyes out in an endless contest for access and positioning, a corpulent Army general playing both sides against his rather substantial middle, and an English view of the White House, a house they will remind you they burned to the ground on a whim, that is so caustic and funny that it must be true.

The easy to believe venalities of political access and power displayed with such style and fun are but part of the masterful plot and screenplay. The British system, the American system, the clueless UN, the A to B of how easily the press becomes but a pawn, the power politics of getting things done, love and lust, ambition and angst, bombast and betrayal, whoosh...and the movie seems over before you're settled in your seat.

Fantastic performances all around with Peter Capaldi playing an incendiary PR fixer working directly for the prime minister, trying to control all messaging in a world of "all media all the time," dominating every scene he is in. His character's ongoing diatribe against anything in his path is the greatest display of invective in movie history. His is a Niagara Falls of insults, as he attempts to herd cats toward the government's approved "strategy."

First movie ever to use Frodo in an alliterative put down (think 'f' with a 'off') and that, in itself, is worth the price of admission.

There were hints throughout of a recent great, overlooked movie as well: Tristam Shandy, A Cock and Bull Story. The same cinema verite style, the moving camera making the viewer part of it all, the behind-the-scenes vibe...very Cock and Bullish. The great Steven Coogan, who played Tristam, in a minor role here, as the action veers from the March to War to a constituency problem back in Merrie Olde. Maybe it was just the uber-literate script that connects the two, yes, the spirit of Tristam was somewhere there.

I looked up In the Loop on IMDb and the director, Armando Iannucci, did the BBC television program The Thick of It on which this movie is loosely based, but also I'm Alan Partridge with Steven Coogan as Alan. I have read previously that Tristam owed a lot to the pseudo realistic style of that BBC show. So in an odd way, all roads lead back to Mr. Parsons.

A friend texted me after she saw the movie: Run don't walk to see this movie!

It was great advice. I pass it on to all Huffington Post readers.

Comments

[MaryKathO]

Watched this movie Friday night on my On Demand service. A brilliant cross between 'The Office' and 'Dr. Strangelove'. The cast is exemplary (Tom Hollander and Peter Capaldi real stand-outs) as is the writing. I laughed, winced, and was completely convinced that this film was more accurate, in all of it's over-the-top hilarity, than any serious journalist's take on the run up to the Iraq War could possibly be. The British and the Americans are both lampooned with equal vigor, so if you are offended by those tactics, steer clear of 'In the Loop'...otherwise, prepare to be thoroughly entertained...words of caution: DEFINITELY NOT FOR CHILDREN

[Michael Jones - Huffpost Blogger]

I just saw it again: brilliant. Heard dozens more asides/insults than the first time. Laughed out loud more times, enjoyed it knowing what was coming. Definitely a see again movie. Are you able, MaryKathO, to access 'In the Thick' somehow? I can't wait to see the BBC series the movie is based on. As I watched it I kept thinking...Cap and Trade, Health Care Reform, even Cash for Clunkers...name any major bill/program...I bet this is how they are written and passed.

[Billy Hell]

I'll definitely look out for it, thank you Michael.