In the Loop

It seems fitting than among the scandals of MP’s expenses and impending political tensions between Iran and the West that Armando Iannnuci’s political satire, In the Loop, should hit our movie screens.

The film follows the backroom boys of UK and US political life when an MP, Simon Foster (played at just the right level by Tom Hollander) makes an on-air radio gaff, referring to war in the middle east as “unforeseeable”. Lambasted as a loose cannon by his parties’ spin doctors and as a surprising hero to an underhand Washington pro-war committee, he is suddenly thrown into the spotlight along with his aides.

But it is not Foster who is the star of the show but vitriolic Scottish spin doctor Malcolm Tucker (Peter Capaldi spouting off expletives and insults to make Gordon Ramsay blush). Tucker’s frightening temper lashes out against anyone in his way as he bids to toe the party line and use any underhand tactic in the book to quash anti-war sentiments.

The film is filled with wonderful gags but no fear of hiding away from what is a highly intelligent and biting critique of the way political policy works backstage and the corrupt and farcical nature of it. The main figureheads of parliamentary and presidential life are kept off screen – the prime minister and president are only referred to in passing - but the message is clear. Something is badly wrong with the system.

Amid the large collection of laughs, Iannuci still has the power to shock, with one line in particular near the film’s conclusion deservedly eliciting audible gasps from the audience I watched it with.

Mix this with sizeable roles for James Gandolfini (otherwise known as Tony Soprano) as a general in opposition to the proposed conflict and Steve Coogan in fine form as an angry resident in Foster’s Northamptonshire constituency and it is a potent blend of well crafted comedy and edgy political comment.

Fans of the BBC4 series In the Thick Of It which this was a spin-off from should expect to see slight recasting from that but with roughly the same ensemble. Despite TV feel of the movie in terms of its shooting style, this is perhaps less nuanced than the series when it stretches itself over 90 minutes but it remains true to its source material, if one can call it that.

The fast flowing journey is neither partisan in its politics nor afraid to push the envelope with cutting comedy. It is an enjoyable and enthralling watch which occasionally gets slightly lost on the big screen but never by sacrificing its originality, humour and acerbic appraisal of 21st century global politics.