Chicago – The more you love the art of language, the more you’ll love Armando Iannucci’s “In The Loop.” Words have rarely sounded so alive or been arranged so hilariously. In a year when the WGA has honored formulaic scripts like “Avatar,” “Julie & Julia,” and “The Hangover,” Iannucci’s film is a refreshing reminder of just how much fun and exhilarating speech can be.
Though the film has garnered comparisons to landmark political satires like “Dr. Strangelove” and “Catch 22,” it’s far more evocative of great British sitcoms, with its effortlessly verbal characters and pitch-perfect comic timing (Ricky Gervais would find himself at home here). This is far from coincidental, since Iannucci is the creator of indelible British shows such as “I’m Alan Partridge,” with Steve Coogan, and “The Thick Of It,” with Chris Addison and Peter Capaldi (all three actors turn up in “The Loop”).
DVD Rating:...
Though the film has garnered comparisons to landmark political satires like “Dr. Strangelove” and “Catch 22,” it’s far more evocative of great British sitcoms, with its effortlessly verbal characters and pitch-perfect comic timing (Ricky Gervais would find himself at home here). This is far from coincidental, since Iannucci is the creator of indelible British shows such as “I’m Alan Partridge,” with Steve Coogan, and “The Thick Of It,” with Chris Addison and Peter Capaldi (all three actors turn up in “The Loop”).
DVD Rating:...
- 1/14/2010
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
In The Loop, a British political farce written and directed by Armando Iannucci, is a spin-off of the BBC series ‘The Thick Of It’ which satirizes the modern British government. The new film, which moves part of the action to Washington D.C., has been a big hit in the U.K. where it opened in April. It’s a fast-paced hit-and-miss (but mostly hit) comedy in the vein of Dr. Strangelove or Wag The Dog, full of rapid-fire dialogue and screwball situations. In the film, the British Prime Minister and the U.S. President are looking to start a war in the Middle East. Neither of these leaders is shown and the details of the war never mentioned, but it seems obviously based on events that led up to the Iraq war. In The Loop follows an ensemble of mid-level government officials and advisers in their comical behind-the-scenes efforts...
- 8/7/2009
- by Tom
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Armando Iannucci’s In the Loop understands a fundamental principle of politics: Ego trumps all. His film, a transatlantic depiction of the build-up to a Middle Eastern war within the governments of the United States and Britain, presents an ensemble of characters driven solely by their personal interests, by dreams of glory and celebrity, by everything but the needs of the populations that have elected them as representatives. Delivered with characteristically British drollness, with the faux-documentary camerawork that’s in vogue these days, the picture steadfastly shatters any remaining hope one might have in the ideal that those in public service might answer to a higher cause. The film begins in Britain, with the lowly government minister Simon Foster (Tom Hollander) getting into trouble with communications director Malcolm Tucker (Peter Capaldi) when he gives a public comment that suggests planning to be afoot for a war in the Middle East. His...
- 7/24/2009
- by Robert Levin
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
For weeks now, I've heard fellow critics recommending Armando Iannucci's "In the Loop," a film about a verbal blunder that leads to an international crisis, as a pinnacle of screwball satire, a treasure trove of absurd situations and quotable lines, a "Dr. Strangelove" for the new millennium. I understand the fuss: the state of movie comedy is so generally dismal that when one demonstrates any wit at all, we tend to react like desert travelers who've stumbled upon an oasis. But while I agree that "In the Loop" is a breezy, amusing, committed movie -- writer-director Iannucci was responsible for the BBC's "This is Alan Partridge," the brilliant Steve Coogan vehicle that takes the early Albert Brooks school of miserable jerk comedy as far as it can go -- I wasn't bowled over. It's good, very good, but visually and rhythmically unremarkable and ultimately pretty thin. And there's a...
- 7/22/2009
- by Matt Zoller Seitz
- ifc.com
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