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In The Loop
I didn't expect very much from Armando Iannucci's In The Loop, a Sundance '09 movie that I caught here last week. The notes made this low-budget British political comedy sound too ambitious and convoluted and cross-burdened. Except it's not. It's easily one of the funniest comedies about governmental inanity and media mis-speak I've ever seen. It also felt to me like one of the fastest laughers of this type since Billy Wilder's One, Two,Three.
And it has some absolutely wonderful insult humor. I'm talking one beautiful saber thrust and club-bludgeon after another.
Suffice that my pre-viewing concerns evaporated almost immediately. The reason I didn't expect a lot going in is that I didn't know Iannucci -- he's a successful British-based comedian, writer, director, performer and radio producer -- or anything about his shows. I didn't know squat, for instance, about The Thick of It, a 2005 political satire for BBC Four that Iannucci devised, directed and largely wrote. Some of the British government characters in In The Loop originally appeared in The Thick Of It.
In The Loop is basically about how the media can sometimes focus on a gaffe by an official or spokesperson and make it sound (via sheer repetition and obsession) to represent firm government policy concerning this or that major issue. In The Loop's major issue is a potential military conflict involving U.S. and British troops -- think Iraq in '02 -- but the humor is about how various second- and third-tier government types in London and Washington try to dodge, maneuver and counter-spin their way around an essentially meaningless statement by a British cabinet minister that war is "unforeseeable." Meaningless and yet strangely meaningful once the media gets hold of it. And the source of endless misery for many people.
Some of the In The Loop-ers.
"Wickedly sardonic and filled with secrets, lies, leaks, plugs, and faulty intelligence and walls, In the Loop leads us behind closed doors to reveal bungling bureaucrats entangled in petty rivalries, obsequious aides jockeying for favor, and the Keystone Cops of government," say the Sundance notes.
Every cast member -- Peter Capaldi, James Gandolfini, Tom Hollander, David Rashe, Gina McKee, Chris Addison, Anna Chulmsky and Mimi Kennedy topline -- is clearly on the same Iannucci wavelength. They know they're working with great material, and so do we. What is unmistakable is that they're all having enormous fun with the material, although in a very assured and ultra-disciplined way.
I was so taken with In The Loop that I asked to speak to Iannucci. He called from London last Friday or something. (Thursday?) Our discussion speaks for itself. I'm hoping to meet with him in Park City, along with Gandolfini and Kennedy.
Posted by Jeffrey Wells on January 13, 2009 at 12:10 PM
comment #1
lehigh
says ...
The Thick Of It is good stuff.
Sort of like The Office, but a little meaner, and colder.
Posted by lehigh
at January 13, 2009 1:30 PM
comment #2
KC
says ...
Armando Iannuci is a jeeeniyus, can't listen now but I'm looking forward to it later!
This also reminds me of my campaign to pray five rosaries every night in the hopes that you will realize the error of your ways and go back on that blanket condemnation of Steve Coogan from a while back
Posted by KC
at January 13, 2009 1:55 PM
comment #3
KC
says ...
Oh that misspelling is going to haunt me forever
Posted by KC
at January 13, 2009 1:56 PM
comment #4
sardine
says ...
I saw Wilder's ONE TWO THREE opening day in chgo in the 60's. terrible movie.
Posted by sardine
at January 13, 2009 2:28 PM
comment #5
talentedgc
says ...
That pic makes him John Turturro's spitting image
Posted by talentedgc
at January 13, 2009 2:38 PM
comment #6
Jeffrey Wells
says ...
One , Two, Three is very glib, broad, hammy and dated, but when it's cooking and in-gear it's great. Hell, wonderful at times. A classic farce, certainly, during the last half. And it features a close-to-breathtaking James Cagney performance -- his funniest, his most energized, his most rat-a-tat-tat.
Posted by Jeffrey Wells
at January 13, 2009 2:40 PM
comment #7
joncro
says ...
The Thick of It is great stuff.......
Posted by joncro
at January 13, 2009 4:35 PM
comment #8
lipranzer
says ...
I love ONE, TWO, THREE ("Is old Russian proverb: Go West, young man!"), and I'll definitely keep my eyes peeled for this one.
Posted by lipranzer
at January 13, 2009 6:38 PM
comment #9
arturobandini2
says ...
What a rockin' cast of cult actors. I haven't heard from Mimi Kennedy since her funny, failed sitcom with Peter Cook in the '80s. Gina McKee was memorable in Croupier and especially Naked ("Want some beans?"). And Peter Capaldi played a mean set of bagpipes in Lair of the White Worm, one of Ken Russell's better campfests. Thanks for the heads-up.
Posted by arturobandini2
at January 13, 2009 8:25 PM
comment #10
worrywort
says ...
be sure to add The Day Today and The Armando Iannucci Shows to your amazon.co.uk order
Posted by worrywort
at January 15, 2009 10:14 PM
comment #11
skllee
says ...
I concur with what Worrywort says & try and get Time Trumpet as well - another series Iannucci did. He was also behind a couple of series of I'm Alan Partridge (with Steve Coogan) & collaborations with Chris Morris who is another arch UK satirist.
As for the creativity of the insults, there's a good reason for that. On The Thick of It, Iannucci employed a 'Swearing Consultant' - I kid you not, if you check the end titles, you'll see it there! What a great job that would be . .
Posted by skllee
at January 29, 2009 5:06 AM
comment #12
George Prager
says ...
A British movie that isn't about gangsters or theater people (or non-theater people putting on a show)? What gives?
Posted by George Prager
at March 4, 2009 11:46 AM
comment #13
greatpet
says ...
Everything since Alan Partridge has been a let down as far as Armando is concerned, and this is no different. Just doesn't cut the mustard for me.
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at August 12, 2009 8:02 AM
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propecia
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That pic makes him John Turturro's spitting image
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at November 9, 2009 3:08 AM
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