(On his gravestone ) Here lies Alistair Campbell --- Again! (In The Loop (DVD))

Member Name: thedevilinme

Product:	In The Loop (DVD)
Date:	02/09/09 (80 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Intelligent satire

Disadvantages: the jokes not naughty enough

A handful of people on dooyoo have accused me of writing fiction as if it was fact, they getting confused with my unique brand of speculation, theory and waffle on various subjects as quoted truth, presumably my reasonable articulation on a wide variety of topics giving credence too it. The fact you can't post up any hyperlinks on dooyoo`s woeful text editor to support your arguments doesn't help. If I'm so good at this then perhaps being a spin doctor, the essence of 'In the Loop', the spin off (excuse the pun) to the excellent TV series 'The Thick of It', should be my chosen career.

The media is at constant war with politicians, and vice versa, blurring the actual message the MPs and Minster's want to get across, 24 hour news and the World Wide Web meaning politicians need to employ just as many spin doctors and communications people as the press to control that information flow. Politicians get a bad wrap from that unfortunate but all too modern state of affair, mainly because they are reduced to scripted often insular monotone replies because anything they say may be taking out of context. Once they are quoted, fairly or not, its up on the newswire and the news agenda is set for the day. The politicians can, of course, manipulate that process, the theme of our movie, clearly based on real events, Peter Capaldis manic Alistair Campbell character cruel but uncomfortably fair, so say those who know.

We don't like to be told about those 'hard truths' (as Tony Blair called them), the ones, as a country and people we have to embrace, like invading Iraq for much needed new sources of oil, the false dossiers and lies to go to war the pointed narrative of the movie here. Was the Libyan bomber only accused to secure oil deals with Iran, now being released to secure oil deals with Libya? We know those things have to be done to maintain our status in the world but a democracy affords us the wonderful luxury to complain about it to appease our guilt. Since New Labour has arrived in Number Ten they have spent a colossal £7 billion pounds on their spin machine. The days of Sir Humphrey 'Yes Minister' Appleby running the show long gone...

-The Cast-

Peter Capaldi ... Malcolm Tucker
Tom Hollander ... Simon Foster
Gina McKee ... Judy
James Gandolfini ... Lt. Gen. George Miller
Chris Addison ... Toby Wright
Anna Chlumsky ... Liza Weld
Enzo Cilenti ... Bob Adriano
Paul Higgins ... Jamie MacDonald
Mimi Kennedy ... Karen Clarke
Alex Macqueen ... Sir Jonathan Tutt
Johnny Pemberton ... A.J. Brown
Olivia Poulet ... Suzy
David Rasche ... Linton Barwick
Joanna Scanlan ... Roz
James Smith ... Michael Rodgers

-The Plot-

Simon Foster (Tom Hollander), the Minister for Foreign Affairs, has made an on air gaff on BBC Radio Fours Today program (the genesis of the 45 minutes quote), effectively suggesting 'war is unforeseeable' with an unnamed Middle Eastern country, resulting in the ambiguous quote hitting the newswires 'unchecked'. New Labours Machiavellian chief spin doctor Malcolm Tucker is furious, this innocuous unguarded quip soon picked up by the Americans to help back their drive for war with the said unknown Middle Eastern country. When Foster and his new communications assistant Toby (Chris Addison) are invited over to Washington DC to debate a war that's not even in the planning stage yet, Tucker is all over them like a rash, expecting Fosters resignation on the PMs desk before the sh*t storm gets out of control and the planes wheels touch done in DC.

In Washington we meet Lt. Gen. George Miller (James Gandolfini), an armchair Pentagon warrior, he too drawn into the war that was just a pipe dream two weeks ago, Tucker soon having to come up with fake intelligence against the said Arab country to justify Fosters comment. Meanwhile, back in Fosters constituency of Northampton, the returning minister has the more mundane duties of dealing with his constituents in the monthly clinic in the local church hall, an angry man called Paul (Steve Coogan) upset because his mums garden wall is falling over because tree roots from next door, Fosters constituency home, are causing subsidence, the story soon picked up by the local paper, the Chronicle & Echo (one of my employers!), resulting in some cringing headlines for Foster and embarrassing the PM once again, The Times cartoon reading: "The only political f*ck up to be viewed from space", the picture showing Foster sitting on the Great Wall of China.

When things get seriously out of control, Tucker comes up against his Whitehouse counterpart, Rumsfeld look-alike Linton Barwick (David Rasche), determined to spin America into war, locking antlers with Tucker as he smooth talks the gullible Foster to keep up the blabbing, war now on the agenda because the general starts to count his troops. The problem is only Foster can stop it now, hardly the man for the job...

-The Conclusion-

Anyone with half a brain has seen or sort out the TV series of this movie, too often intelligent television like this often hidden away on late night BBC2 or their obscure digital channels as is the corporation don't think there's enough of us out there to justify it going on terrestrial primetime.

The film was inevitable from its creator Armado Iannucci, as was its critic of the Iraq War, if just for the angry liberals to get back at Blair for what he did. He is the guy who was behind satirical comedies like Brass Eye and The Day Today so you know the quality of comedic writing your going to get here with his enjoyable movie, memorable quotes littered throughout, my particular favourite when Tucker describes the extremely young US communications team driving for war as the 'Bugsy Malone kids but with real guns'. Through the audio commentary we learn that the aid who drew up the actually Iraq constitution was only 23! If you're not keen on layered tracks this one is well worth a nibble for nuggets like that.

The movie, of course, is all about Capaldis extraordinary lead performance, as is the TV series, his relentless abusive tirade of caustic put downs and his devious spin all too real a representation of Campbell and his henchmen according to people who were there in Blair's government, idealist politicians quickly bullied into making decisions for the greater good of the party and country or lose any chance of ministerial job. The government whips are not called whips for nothing. They have all the dirt on our democratically elected members of parliament and if they don't agree to go to war, for example, then their heterosexual or gay affairs, theoretically, are threatened with exposure. Its interesting that the line in the movie: 'you don't want to register porno in the members interests!' was written long before the chubby Home Secretary put that ghastly image in our minds of her and her husband naked, but, rather wonderfully, the film released in the same month that story was in the news so helping to promote both. Something that made me chuckle on a local level, so to speak, was the Paul character from Northampton; played by Steve Coogan, reminding me of a local loon that lives in Northampton that dresses just like Coogans Paul. If you have lived in Northampton you will probably know about this guy, the chap with the bushy mustache who whistles on his old fashioned push bike wearing his signature woolly hat as seen in the film.

In The Loops is not quite as good as the dust jacket compliments from the broadsheets suggest, a real feeling to it that it's been 'dumbed' down some to earn a bigger audience and so make its money back. The writing is good but the jokes do feel slightly sanitized and not cutting enough. I really needed more absolute truth and cynicism to it and you always feel you know what joke is coming here and so diluting the laugh. I wasn't expecting the surreal chaos of Brass Eye but I was hoping it would be naughtier and controversial than it is. But its pretty good fun and at least in this politically correct world, a film of this comic intelligence can still get made. Well Blair is hardly likely to sue is he! But you will be pleased to know that things are changing in the world since this film and what it represents, Gordon Brown plucking up the courage to kick little old Fiji out of the Commonwealth because their fearsome dictator isn't doing what he's told. If only he was well behaved as British educated and nurtured Gadaffi guys!

= = = = Special Features = = = =

-Audio Commentary-

Director Armando Iannucci and the cast deliver an intelligent and funny layered track.

-Deleted Scene-

As this is a spoof polemic there's a lot of stuff on the cutting room floor they wanted to say.

-Interviews-

Most of the cast and Armando enjoy talking about there movie experience.

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Imdb.com scores it 7.8 out of 10.0 (3,888 votes)
RuN-TiMe 106 minutes
Blockbuster is still doing any two films for two nights for a fiver.
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Summary: Film for clever people