In the Loop

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

The language is brilliant, and the laugh lines come so quickly that you'd probably have to watch the movie twice to get them all.

Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer

Hands down the funniest movie I've seen all year and also the smartest.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

The chattering smarty-pants who ran the U.S. government on "The West Wing" are slow talkers compared with the motormouthed and hilariously imperfect power elite in the brainy British comedy In the Loop.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps

In The Loop floats above its chaotic world on wave after wave of beautifully profane dialogue.

LA Weekly Robert Wilonsky

Zooming back and forth between London and D.C., In the Loop hasn't any real plot -- it plays like a rather brilliant Brit-com stretched over 100 minutes, a collection of anecdotes and incidents.

Variety Dennis Harvey

Intelligent political satire this expertly acted is nothing to sneeze at.

Village Voice Melissa Anderson

Not to detract from the pleasure of watching the consistently excellent actors, who enhance the dialogue's bite with their body language, but the script of In the Loop is so rich that it could work as a radio play.

Slate Dana Stevens

Britain's diplomatic corps may be as clueless and impotent as In the Loop suggests, but British comedians are fully capable of taking over the world.

Washington Post Philip Kennicott

Tremendous fun at times, especially in its vicious power plays and betrayals. But it has no redeeming value beyond entertainment.

The New York Times A.O. Scott

A sharply written, fast-talking, almost dementedly articulate satire on modern statecraft.

NPR Bob Mondello

The performances are explosively funny, from Hollander's increasingly bewildered and way-out-of-his-depth Simon to Chris Addison's hapless PR fledgling. But the star is Peter Capaldi.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

The movie is absolutely hilarious, a satire as brisk and fleet as a farce and as profane as a convention of Tony Montana impersonators.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

Dancing along a line just shy of the edge of brilliance, In the Loop possesses an incisive, take-no-prisoners comedic style that offers plenty of solid laughs while making a point about the stupidity, selfishness, and lack of awareness that exists within the highest echelons of government.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

In the Loop is certainly the smartest and funniest movie inspired by the Iraq war.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

Laugh you will, loud and often. In the Loop deserves to be a sleeper hit. The whole cast is stellar. And it proves that smart and funny can exist in the same movie, even in summer.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

As a ranking cabinet minister in the brutally funny political satire In the Loop, actor Peter Capaldi unfurls dazzling verbal ribbons of the foulest language imaginable, thunderbolts of vulgarity that carry the force of precision carpet-bombing.

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

While director Armando Iannucci's brand of satire -- just plausible enough to be painful -- isn't for all tastes, it's a little bit of heaven to hear screen characters spew such eloquently vicious bile.

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

One of those should-I-laugh-or-cry satires.

New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman

One of the sharpest satires in years.

The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt

Painfully funny satire of British and American bureaucrats in the days leading up to the Iraq War.

Film Threat Brad Wilke

Generous with its humor and spares no sacred cows, especially when it comes to the American political system.

Los Angeles Times Michael Ordona

In the Loop is no precious show dog. It's a snarling, frothing little beastie straining at its leash.

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

Deliciously bleak, black political satire from British director Armando Iannucci.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

The best satire implicates the audience; this stuff keeps our sense of superiority smugly intact.

New Orleans Times-Picayune Mike Scott

It's also a British comedy, with that singularly British way of being clever and deliriously juvenile all at once, a combination that makes for scathing, laugh-out-loud, big-screen satire.

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

A scabrously funny look at the cutthroat game of statecraft.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch Joe Williams

It's often obscenely funny, but it tickles more than it stings.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

In the Loop is clever and lively, but it isn't sharp or nasty enough to cut very deep; at best it's just a peppery trifle.

Wall Street Journal Joanne Kaufman

It’s the hilarious tumble of words--the sly cultural references, astonishingly creative invective, the veritable arias of profanity--that gives the film an unexpected heft.

USA Today Claudia Puig

Drawing upon "Wag the Dog," "Dr. Strangelove" and "This Is Spinal Tap," this sardonic tale is adapted from the critically acclaimed BBC series "The Thick of It."

The New Yorker Anthony Lane

By the end of the film, you just want to get away from these people.