Metascore

Universal acclaim - based on 31 Critics What's this?

User Score

Generally favorable reviews- based on 69 Ratings

  • Starring: James Gandolfini, Peter Capaldi, Tom Hollander
  • Summary: With razor-sharp, truly laugh-out-loud dialogue the film pokes fun at the absurdity and ineptitude of our highest leaders. With everyone looking out for number one, and the fate of the free world at stake (but apparently incidental), the hilarious ensemble cast of characters bumbles its way through Machiavellian political dealings, across continents, and toward comic resolutions that are unforeseeable. (IFC Films)
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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 30 out of 31
  2. Negative: 0 out of 31
  1. 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.
  2. Hands down the funniest movie I've seen all year and also the smartest.
  3. Painfully funny satire of British and American bureaucrats in the days leading up to the Iraq War.
  4. 50
    By the end of the film, you just want to get away from these people.

See all 31 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 20 out of 29
  2. Negative: 5 out of 29
  1. 10
    anyone who likes to indulge in the lighter side of politics will LOVE this movie. those giving bad reviews are simply too thick to understand!
  2. The pace is fast and the approach is uncensored. "In the Loop" conveys a sense of instability and speed. The dialogue comes in cascades of exuberant comic language. Characters indulge in frantic and absurd monologues. The language is brilliant, and the laugh lines come so quickly that your going to have to watch the movie twice to start to pick them up. Although concealed beneath the splendor of comedy is a vision of self-serving people, who are self-absorbed and unable to see past their own interests.
    The United States and Britain are rushing to war, in this pointed British satire, and everyone in government, on both sides of the Atlantic, is scrambling for position. Quietly underlying these amusing interactions and laughs is the implication that the Americans are wealthy and entitled, and that the Brit's are merely junior partners.
    The movie follows a litany of characters but mainly centers around Simon (Tom Hollander) as he struggles to maintain his balance. Simon unintentionally refers to war with the Middle East as "unforeseeable", then tries to correct what he has been told is a terrible gaffe. His attempt to smooth things over only makes things worse, when he proclaims that Britain "must be ready to climb the mountain of conflict." Because he is against the war, he comes into contact with American undersecretary (Mimi Kennedy), and a pacifist American general, played by James Gandollfini. At the same time, Simon has to appease his own government's apoplectic communications director Malcolm Tucker (Peter Capaldi), whose performance is priceless-boarding on legendary.
    "In the Loop" is uncompromising in its speed and audacity. Even among the moderate characters, there seems to be hardly any awareness of the true cost of war, loss of life, and what this all entails. These functionaries are lost in the fog of government, incapable of seeing past their petty grievances and career concerns. What a terrifying thought that this is possibly closer to reality than we care to think of it. The film is adapted from the critically acclaimed BBC series "The Thick of It."
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  3. KenG
    7
    This movie never really convinced me it knew what it was talking about (which the very best satires do), and it really doesn't give you much insight on how government runs (other then the idea that critical decisions and policies are made and run by people who shouldn't be doing so), but still it's an amusing and clever story which I guess is based on the fimmakers concept of how these things work. And on that level, the movie works. Expand
  4. GerardZ
    4
    The foul language does nothing for the plot. It really gets tiresome. An interesting plot that needs 90 minutes at best. I kept wishing it would end.

See all 29 User Reviews

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