Politics as Unusual

The entertainment sites have been talking about the Oscars for weeks here, but now, with just days to go, it has risen to a crescendo. Often discussed are the "obscure" or "surprising" nominations, including the Best Original Screenplay nod for a British movie called In the Loop. I'd heard incredibly positive things about the movie apart from the fact of that nomination, and decided to check it out.

Start with all the high-speed dialogue stuffed full of wit and intelligence that you find on The West Wing. Split it across two continents, with a look at both British and American politics. Now turn the dial fully away from the serious and dramatic and put things into the farcical and surreal. Finally, throw the switch to foul-mouthed and R-rated, and ta-da! You have In the Loop.

The story revolves around the British Prime Minister and American President (neither actually shown on screen), who both desperately want to press the United Nations Security Council to declare war on an anonymous Middle Eastern country. We see aides working in arms of their administrations scrambling to support justifications for the action, and repressing arguments against. And let me say again -- this is all played for humor. Despite the "ripped from the headlines" feel of what I've described, the material is meant to get laughs.

And boy, how it does! I laughed out loud, even though all alone watching it, all throughout the film. The caliber of wit, the hilarity of the cursing, the quality of the insults, the snap of the dialogue, and the pitch perfect performances from the cast... this was damn near a perfect comedy. The only thing I could really say against it that while it entertained throughout, it didn't ultimately feel like a complete story as it came to an end. In fact, I thought that it really came across more like the bedrock on which a fantastic television series could and should have been built.

Lo and behold, I find out that's exactly what In the Loop was first -- a three season (thus, only 17 episodes, keeping with the British TV norm) television series called The Thick of It, that ran from 2005 to 2009. And now, I feel I must somehow find a way to get my hands on it, though it could take some work, as it has not been released on DVD here in the States.

Though I feel this material would be better packaged as a series than as a movie, it's still an outstanding and entertaining film. In fact, it's rocketing to the echelons of my "best of 2009" list, nestling in at #2, just behind Up. Coming into this movie, I was wondering if I'd be resentful of the film that was said to have possibly pushed (500) Days of Summer out of a screenplay nomination. Now, I think I'm rooting for it to win (against the odds). This film gets an A.