DVD reviews: In The Loop

In Armando Iannucci’s political satire In The Loop, history turns on the smallest things. Against his government’s policy, barely competent middle-ranking cabinet minister Simon Foster (Tom Hollander) declares to the press that war in the Middle East is “unforeseeable”. From that moment events spiral out of his control as hawks and doves in Britain and the US wrestle to force their own interpretations onto Foster’s words.

Director/co-writer Iannucci is little known in this country but is a legend in the UK for his incisive, knife-to-the-spine TV comedy such as Steve Coogan’s Alan Partridge programmes, The Day Today and The Thick Of It. In The Loop is a spinoff from that last show, and retains not only the naturalistic shooting style, but also the key character of government spin doctor non pareil Malcolm Tucker, played with unhinged relish by Peter Capaldi.

Capaldi chews the screen as he attempts to make Foster’s words align with government policy (“You may have heard him say that, but he didn’t say that. And that’s a fact,” is a key early line), but although he is desperately funny, it is the subtler interactions between other characters that show where true power lies.

In the DVD’s extras Iannucci says he wants to show Washington as “a bit rubbish”, a place run by 23-year-old Ivy League graduates who develop foreign policy by trawling Wikipedia. Iannucci doesn’t spare Whitehall, either. His British characters are not only inept, they’re in awe of their American counterparts and quite clearly out of their depth. Iannucci thus reveals them to be very human – and that’s the last thing you expect from those who run your country.

A warning for parents whose children beg to watch the movie: In the Loop is eminently quotable and deeply sweary, points worth remembering unless you want to be farewelled with a chorus of “fuckity-bye” when you drop the kids off at school.

FORMAT: DVD

FROM: Madman

RATED: 13

SOUND: 3

VISION: 2.5

MOVIE: 4.5 stars

RICHARD BETTS