Armando Iannucci, 2009
After speaking a bit too candidly about the possibility of war with an unnamed middle eastern country, Simon Foster (Tom Hollander), a mid-level British cabinet minister, finds himself caught in the middle between various British and American political forces trying to alternately prevent and instigate the war. Also, Foster's superior (Peter Capaldi) yells at people. In the Loop is probably the funniest movie I've seen this year (yes, all twelve of them). Ah, what the hell, we'll throw in last year too. Nearly every second is filled with sharp, high-speed, crackling dialogue that was, as I understand it, largely improvised. There's not a weak link in the cast, although even if there was, the sheer force of Capaldi's persona would likely have devoured them whole and spit out their kidneys on to an orphan's favorite puppy, so it wouldn't have been much of a problem.
The really amazing thing is that, if you stop laughing long enough to pay attention to the characters, there's some surprisingly deft work going on there. I think one could reasonably call this a character study. Even if that's stretching it a bit, the one thing you can't really call it is a political movie. Sure, it's based in the world of politics, and deals with things that are intimately tied to current events, but those really only serve as a playground for Iannucci and his writers and actors. It's not a message movie, it's not a liberal or conservative movie, it's just a terribly clever farce - which is why it will likely stand the test of time better than so many other movies.
8.5/10
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