CineVegas 2009

In the Loop

Peter Capaldi, Tom Hollander, Gina McKee, James Gandolfini.

Directed by Armando Iannucci

IMDb: In the Loop

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Film reviews

An ill-received quote from a bumbling British official (“War is unforeseeable”) gets blown out of proportion and sets off a chain reaction within the halls of both the U.K. and U.S. governments. What ensues is sporadically funny, as a gaggle of mostly petty would-be political movers and shakers chase each other’s tails and fling their most colorful and witty insults at whatever they’ll stick to. If the previous sentence sounds convoluted or highfalutin, you’re beginning to get the idea.

The cast is mostly in top shape (Gandolfini, as an American general, the most physically intimidating presence in the largely British ensemble, is a particular standout), obviously relishing the barbed comments the screenwriters have lined up for them. The tone comes off more than a little like one of Christopher Guest’s mockumentaries, which were already suffering from the law of diminishing returns. And the subject matter brings immediate comparisons to Wag the Dog and Dr. Strangelove, neither of which it can live up to.