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Not Quite Loopy Enough

I'm not certain that there is a tougher sale to make to the American public than to expect them to watch and enjoy a satire. British satire is even more difficult, with the notable exception being the Monty Python franchise, but even in that case, Python wasn't exactly mainstream.

Armando Iannucci has written and directed a British political satire entitled, "In the Loop". Iannucci is immensely successful in the British entertainment world but America is new turf for him and whether or not his sensibilities can translate here is at best a flip of a coin.

Simon Foster (Tom Hollander) is the British Minister for International Development. Simon gets caught in an interview on television and utters words about the possibilities of war being on the horizon. Even though his comment is fairly innocuous, it sets off a firestorm within the government. Enter Malcolm Tucker (Peter Capaldi), the Prime Minister's Director of Communications. Malcolm is a ball of angry energy who cannot last three words without cursing out whoever is standing closest to him. It is his job to do damage control on Simon's gaffe. Mostly this consists of berating Simon.

The whole affair explodes into an international incident between some mid-level British and American officials. The Pentagon gets involved in the form of General Miller (James Gandolfini). We learn that he has certain sexual proclivities that might place him outside of the mainstream but not all that much more about him.

Everyone involved in "In the Loop" does a decent job and there are even some moments that rise to the level of high farce. Unfortunately they are not all that prevalent. The resulting atmosphere reminds me more of a series of skits where some hit and others miss, but it never comes together in entirety. For those of you who have ever seen the British version of the television show, "The Office", "In the Loop" is somewhat similar in tone but falls far short in the yuks department. Look at "In the Loop" as a fair peek into the world of satire but you will not be left out of any large loops if you miss this one.