Into the Loop
In a world ripe with everyday reminders of falling stocks, rising unemployment, and world violence, it’s hard not to leave your door every morning expecting Chicken Little to hit you smack on the noggin. Its tough going to bed every night to the sounds of the local news anchor keeping us on the edge of our seats over the next piece of proverbial excrement to hit the fan. When everything has to be so serious, In the Loop gives us a chance to grin at a world trying so desperately to save itself, but inevitably only making things worse in the process. Director Armando Iannucci gives us a clever and sometimes jar-dropping, behind the scenes portrayal of those trying to rescue the world from its problems, but ultimately just adding one more log onto the spreading fire. When problems arise, the instinct of the politicians isn’t how to solve them, but rather how to create the appearance that it’s being solved, all the while not offending those with a shinier badge, silently hoping to get their own name badge if they simply nod, yes, and play along. Life isn’t about whether or not we should go to war or who we should go to war with, it’s about what we call the name of the first attack.
When two sides almost willingly agree to disagree, something has to give. In the Loop takes us into the hilarious world where who is right and who is wrong isn’t based on ethics or playing nice, but on how much proof you have to support your point of view.
The US President and UK prime minister want to go to war, even though not everyone agrees that war is a good thing ( sound familiar?). Secretary of State for International Development, Simon Foster (Tom Hollander) isn’t exactly a proponent of going to war, until an accidental slip of the tongue on TV. He suddenly is faced with stopping the same war that he seemingly backed on British television, clumsily digging himself a bigger hole than what he had originally started. He’ll have to win the approval of US General Miller (James Gandolfini) while untwisting his tongue, talking with the brass in Washington, D.C. a task that is overwhelming to say the least.
This film does a fantastic job of playing off of our perceptions of the political world, creating an environment rooted in corruption and narcissism, sprinkling in just the right amount of catastrophe along the way. Also, In the Loop succeeds because we feel immersed in the story, not only because the characters match the political prototypes that we have become accustomed to seeing, but it goes one step further in heightening the ways in which each character will fight to save their own reputation. In the Loop gives us the opportunity to finally laugh at the nature of politics because the events are false, and the outcome is not real, but only a well thought out scenario and believable characters would allow this “suspension of disbelief” to occur. The cast delivers a wide array of actors that bring their own spice to the film, even though they are all fighting for the same thing — everyone has their own weapon in getting what they want. It’s refreshing to see a comedy that doesn’t dare to challenge stereotypes and in many ways, this is one of the film’s methods in accomplishing its number one goal – to tell a politician’s tale via multiple humorous points of view.
Into the Loop hits select theaters July 17, 2009.
