DVD review: In The Loop
Peter Capaldi and Chris Addison star
If you’ve ever seen Armando Ianucci’s TV series The Thick of It, you’ll know you’re in for a treat when you settle down to watch the spin-off feature In The Loop, a ‘behind-the-scenes’ style satire about a fictional team of staff behind the UK’s prime minister.
Peter Capaldi is Malcolm Tucker, an uncompromising tyrant, and Director of Communications at No 10 Downing Street, whose every sentence is littered with an outrageous insult. He’s tasked with clearing up a political mess in the form of an embarrassing comment made by the Minister for International Development Simon Foster (Tom Hollander) when, while being interviewed for the radio on an unrelated topic, he suggests that a war is ‘inconceivable’.
It turns into a debate on both sides of the Atlantic, with the US Assistant Secretary of State picking up the inadvertent comment to fuel an international debate on the pros and cons of going to war.
At the heart of the film is a highly topical commentary on the mix of media and politics. Information leaks and embarrassing headlines drive the story on; but whilst they are hugely awkward for the characters at the time, you can imagine they are the tip of the iceberg in comparison to some of the situations that real-life government ministers reportedly find themselves in.
Hollander’s Foster is an absolute joy: one moment he looks like someone who has stumbled into politics with no idea how he got there, the next he is deciding who to blame for his latest predicament. One scene, where he reads his young aide Toby (Chris Addison) “some extracts from the riot act” for going missing during their visit to Washington, is a highlight which gets funnier the more you think about it.
There is even a cameo from Steve Coogan as a perturbed constituent, who contacts Foster during constituency ‘open surgery’ about his mother’s crumbling wall.
It is all very understated, not dissimilar to The Office - rewatchable British comedy at its best. But it is not only the sharp script that makes it so entertaining either. The combination of British and American talent strikes just the right balance between the ironic and the situational humour.
And don’t miss the extras on the DVD – there’s a lengthy section of deleted scenes, many of which are as entertaining if not more so, than what was in the final cut of the film.
In The Loop is available from Optimum Releasing
Director Armando Ianucci
Starring Peter Capaldi, Tom Hollander, Chris Addison, Steve Coogan, James Gandolfini
To submit a review of a book, course, film, magazine or website, please email judy@EssentialWriters.com
Related posts:
- Film review: Better Things - Focusing on the disparate, desolate lives of a group of...
- Film review: Dean Spanley - This is an exquisitely understated film, where the Edwardian fascination...
- Film review: An Education - Whether you remember the sixties or are still rollicking through...
- DVD review: Slacker Uprising - In 2004, just before the North American Presidential election, controversial...
- DVD review: Maradona - This film by documentary filmmaker Emir Kusturica has a slightly...
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
Comments
No comments yet.
Leave a comment