In the Loop

2009 "The fate of the world is on the line."
7.4| 1h46m| NR| en| More Info
Released: 22 January 2009 Released
Producted By: BBC Film
Country: United Kingdom
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
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The US President and the UK Prime Minister are planning on launching a war in the Middle East, but—behind the scenes—government officials and advisers are either promoting the war or are trying to prevent it.

Genre

Comedy

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In the Loop (2009) is now streaming with subscription on AMC+

Director

Armando Iannucci

Production Companies

BBC Film

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In the Loop Audience Reviews

Linbeymusol Wonderful character development!
Doomtomylo a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.
Lucia Ayala It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.
Beulah Bram A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.
SimonJack Some of the ballyhoo about "In the Loop" labels it as a comedy satire. That it is a farce, one can't dispute. But it seems to be a farce more about movies and moviemaking than about politics. There is some comedy, but not much. This is mostly a running rant of one person toward another. Most of the time, it involves one character, Peter Capaldi who plays Malcom Tucker. Is this comedy? Nearly two hours of people shouting at one another? At least no one else tried to take the expletive crown away from Tucker. The guy is in a constant uproar. He goes ballistic through much of the film. That's acting? That's supposed to be comedy? Could this be an example that Hollywood (on both sides of the pond) is receding towards prehistoric times? That was a time when cave men had so little language and communicated by grunts, growls, smashing, yelling, prodding and agitating. I guess it has to pass if there no longer are people who can write witty dialog and devise truly hilarious antics and scenes.This film is almost shocking in Tucker's portrayal as an egomaniacal British pol with such a limited vocabulary. According to the Oxford English Corpus list, the most commonly used words in the English language are "the," "be," "to," "of," "and," "a," "in," "that", "have," and "I." Rounding out the 100 most used words, the list goes on - "it, for, not, on, with, he, as, you, do, at," and so on. Nowhere in this list is the word, "fuck." Yet, it's so obviously frequently used in this film. It may constitute 50 percent of the dialog by Malcolm Tucker. It sure has moved into the top 10 words of the language used here. With such a limited vocabulary, Tucker's ascendancy to high office in the politics of England does not speak well for England or English society of modern times. If that's what the satire or spoof is about, it's a wild stretch for humor. Rather, more effort should have gone into the obvious incidence for satire. That is Tom Hollander's Simon Foster miscue on the air. This mayhem may be what modern critics find so clever as to call it satire and great comedy. One doubts if any of them ever have seen great satire, especially any of the political classics. "The Great Dictator" of 1940, "The Senator was Indiscreet" of 1947, "Dr. Strangelove" of 1964 and "Wag the Dog" of 1997 stand out as great political satires. Compared to such films, "In the Loop" must be considered a "B" level production, and not a very good one at that.The only good line of dialog in the whole film comes from James Gandolfini as Gen. Miller. He is talking to Karen Clark (played by Mimi Kennedy) about a prospective war. He says, "And at the end of a war, you need some soldiers left, really, or it looks like you lost."
Dr Monkey I have to admit both me and my wife could handle no more than 30 or so minutes of this so called 'movie'. I am not native English speaker but i am fairly good at it, can understand usually 95%+ movies and 100% normal dialogue. But in this flick they just swear so fast, i had to constantly watch subtitles to get just like 70%, and still half of that was really just swearing. I don't mind the swearing really, i swear a lot myself but this was clearly over productive. Not funny and annoying.Real disaster was camera work. If you really want to see it, do yourself a mercy and watch it on as small screen as possible, since shaky camera and constant switches / zooming made us both dizzy and uncomfortable.I usually like British movies, but this one was truly bad...
sesht One of the best political satires (and comedies) ever made (think of the Seinfeld in-joke episode around 'War, what's it good for' while I was watching it). For the actual quote that makes this tale completely spiral outta control, you gotta watch this one.Brought my attention to 'My girl' and 'Veep' suck-up, Anna Chlumsky, and it's (aptly) ironic that almost all of the 'In the loop' alum are a part of the ongoing HBO political satire, 'Veep' (including one of the main makers, Armando Iannucci).Tom Hollander is fantastic, but the real scene-stealer, swearing and all, is Peter Capaldi (recently wasted in the Brad Pitt Zombie-actioner, 'World War Z, and amazingly perfect as the new Doctor). Gandolfini is as solid as anything he's been in, and switches on both menacing as well as 'gentle-bear' in spite of the cut-throat political setting. The only flaw, IMO? Steve Coogan, who's wasted (unless I'm missing the relevance/significance of his casting) in the 2 scenes he's in, that could've been filled in by just about anyone. Timely and topical, this might not change anything, but is peppered with 'in' jokes on the political processes in the UK and in Washington, and is a fun way to pass one's time. Almost every character is given something substantial to do, and the makers never lose sight of the fact that the humor is what this is about, and ensure its presence in spades.For a change, it did have a decent run during it's specialty release in '09, when I got to watch it more than once.
andre andreas This is a very funny movie. If anyone says otherwise then they do not want to accept the fact that they can not understand English. You might bring up the fact that you live in the U.S. but hey I am from the U.S. and I think this is one of the funniest movies I have ever seen. If you enjoy The Office (English or even American version) then you will def. enjoy this movie. It is filmed in a way that portrays a realistic and chaotic (politics is always chaotic) scene. Very clever and very well written. The script is great and the characters play the roles very well. This is a must see movie and belongs in the top list of anyone's comedy rankings. Take my word and watch the movie before you decide if I was helpful or not.