In The Loop is a film in which a lot of swearing happens. Almost universally, the mouth of Malcolm Tucker (Peter Capaldi) is responsible. Tucker is the highly strung, aggressive Director of Communications for an unnamed British PM, who cuts a swathe of verbal destruction through gaffe-plagued ministers, departmental staff, lowly public servants and anyone else unfortunate enough to cross his path. No one is spared from his extreme alpha male bullying. In full flight it’s a wonder to behold; almost operatic.
Malcolm Tucker first cracked skulls in the BBC’s superb Yes Minister update The Thick of It. His is one of the few characters to make the transition to the big screen version, although In The Loop is not strictly a continuation, more a launching pad.
And speaking of launching pads, the spectre of an invasion of the Middle East looms. Intelligence has been doctored, allegedly. Ministers are making complete prats of themselves on national radio; bad publicity and dissent in the ranks runs rife, and so comes Tucker’s job to fix things, finding his way to Washington where competing departments and agencies are bouncing up against each other. Soon enough the case for war is lost in a fog of lies, deceit, mismanagement and petty personal vendettas. Sound familiar? Its high farce, satire and Politics 101, all in one big swearing, sweating ball.
Despite universally compelling performances from an eclectic cast James Gandolfini (The Sopranos), David Rasche (Sledge Hammer) and Anna Chlumsky (My Girl and My Girl 2) something elemental gets lost in translation, a certain British forlorn weariness and foot-shuffling despair the Atlantic Ocean wipes clean. In The Loop succeeds by sending you back to the source document, because I watched the first three series of The Thick of It in quick succession soon after and it was still utterly brilliant. Essential viewing, if not an essential movie. Now fuck off.
