The Case for Feedback

"Too much swearing." "Too political." "Too many characters." Quite how the people who went to see In the Loop missed that these are critical ingredients of the film, with its blaring R13 sign and the fact it is blatantly all about the manufacturing of a war, escapes me. Perhaps they thought it was a farce, or perhaps the latest fare from Pixar? At any rate, let me say that they are stupid and this film is great.

Unlike the flier, which I picked up, and is seriously wrong on several plot points. Perhaps these errors are deliberate (at no time does Judy appear to be "back home dealing with voters blocked drains") and in keeping with the spirit of misdirection of the film. I can overlook those though.

What I find harder to overlook is the malign intelligence that the various manipulators in the film bring to bear to get their will across - a cunning and subtleness that seems to be completely absent in the current White House / Fox News spat. Possibly, the Brits are just a whole lot better at manipulating the media (with the media unaware) than the Americans. Else, it could just be that, in the real world, people just aren't as smart as they can be scripted in the movies.

And what a script it is. It sparkles with amazingly cutting put downs and witty repartee. It's all based on a BBC TV series (which I now think I must see), and it all flows together very smoothly. The cast are all amazing in their roles (the giant bear James Gandolfini plays intimidating as the Gore Vidal of army generals, but his physical menace is overpowered by the wiry fire of Peter Capaldi's psychotic Scottish Spin Doctor, and David Rache plays a character as relentlessly republican reminiscient of his Sledge Hammer! days) and its a pleasure to just sit back and watch them (apparently) relish their roles and the cynical situation that in which they all find themselves.

There's no real joy in rehashing the plot - it's actually fairly depressing in "this really happened (kindof)" way. The joy of course derrives from watching everyone running around in damage control trying to deal with sound-bite comments made in extraordinary situations. If you can handle the language, the number of characters, and the politics, this is definitely a great film to watch. Just don't expect to come out of it feeling more optimistic about the world.

Verdict: In the Loop is a great romp near the corridors of power in the UK and the US. The real reasons for war is not the point of this film - the "getting it done" is the thing, and there are an incredible number of put downs and swear words than can be employed in manipulating people to make it happen. 9 spins out of 10.