The Good

An interesting movie that does its best to give us a new take on how war decisions are made.

The Bad

Sadly, this film never rises above the usual conventions of Anti-War sentiment.When a mid-level minister in England tells a news outlet that a U.S. war in the Middle East is "unforeseeable," the die of the movie In The Loop is cast. Quickly summoned to Washington, the minister becomes the political tool of every bureaucrat on the planet as the case for war is both made and unmade through him. Shot in a cinema verite style, In The Loop does it's best to remain fresh and tackle the issues that are important to director Armando Iannucci. While this is usually pulled off quite easily, the action is so outrageous at times that certain aspects of this movie become implausible.

Features

Deleted Scenes

These are series of deleted scenes that didn't make the cut in the 106 minute film. I found that watching them right after the movie was a good idea, because it seems like Iannucci and Co. made the best use of the footage that worked and discarded that which did not.

Behind the Scenes Featurette

Video

Widescreen Version. Presented to preserve the aspect ratio of its original theatrical exhibition. Enhanced for Widescreen TVs. This movie looked good on my 13" television set. It is shot in a cinema verite style that is supposed to make In The Loop look like a pseudo documentary. Fans of shows like the British Office will most likely enjoy this movie and its look the most.

Audio

Language: English 5.1. Subtitles: English SDH, Espanol. The audio on this movie was also pretty good. As a user who is quite familiar with the British dialect, I didn't find it hard to keep up with the proceedings. That said, things do move fast in this film and if people have never watched any British television or movies, or cinema verite films of any sort, they could have a problem here.

Package

In The Loop's black, blue and white cover features an American and a Brit talking via two cups and a tangled string. There are also images of the cast on this cover as well. The back features more images from this movie, a well written description of what In The Loop is about, a Special Features section, a cast list and technical specs.

Final Word

Overall, I think that In The Loop works when it isn't trying to be too funny for its own good. The film has solid performances from Tom Hollander, James Gandolfini, Anna Chlumsky and others. The film is easy to follow if one is up on politics. This is sort of where this movie fails because if you are not that politically aware, much of this movie might go right passed you. Sadly, this will most likely alienate a lot of the audience for this film.

In the Loop was released January 22, 2009.