Going to the movies: Be ‘In the Loop’ of funny, cutting, smart satires

“In The Loop” — Satire, according to an old theatrical saying, is what closes on Saturday. It is also the meat upon which much of our current political commentary and commentators feed. The British have always had an edgier style when it comes to making fun of the foibles of politics and politicians and that edge is on robust and hilarious display in the new film “In The Loop.”

The story, a big screen spin-off of the BBC television show “The Thick of It,” begins with a seemingly innocuous comment made on an interview program by mid-level minister Simon Foster (Tom Hollander). When asked if he thinks a Middle East war in which the U.S. and U.K. would be allies is likely, Foster replies, “war is unforeseeable.”

The nonsensical statement is interpreted as being in opposition to the prime minister’s back door support for the U.S. president’s plan to go to war. So, Foster must walk back his comments.

Malcolm Tucker (Peter Canaldi, in a riotously ribald performance), the PM’s “hatchet man,” makes it his personal mission to make sure Foster neutralizes the quote’s public effect.

Unfortunately, just as Foster tries to straighten things out, they get more muddled as a U.S. Secretary of State (Mimi Kennedy) who’s against the possible war, visits England. When Foster and his new assistant Tobey (Chris Addison) sit in on a meet-and-greet with Kennedy’s Kate Clarke and her assistants, she assumes she’s found an ally. That misunderstanding brings Simon and Tobey to Washington, where they meet with Clarke and a veteran general (James Gandolfini) who also opposes the war.

When Simon utters another inscrutable comment about “climbing the mountain of conflict,” hawks and doves on both sides of the Atlantic find themselves scrambling to make their cases for and against war, while careers, political gains and saving face — really important stuff — hangs in the balance.

Director Armando Iannucci (who produced, wrote and directed “The Thick of It” television series) has given the film an immediacy and energy by shooting it in a hand held camera, documentary style. The shooting style gives the film a freewheeling, improvisational feeling that boosts the real political mood the movie strives for.

Co-screenwriters Jesse Armstrong and Simon Blackwell have a good handle on the small and large ways in which politics work in Washington and London. They create laugh-out-loud funny scenes, but thought-provoking and somewhat horrifying in their deeper meaning upon later consideration.

Hollander’s Simon Foster is a “hero” worthy of mention with Peter Seller’s Chance, the Gardener from “Being There.” His bumbling passive aggressiveness is matched by Peter Canaldi’s ferociously foul-mouthed fixer, Malcolm Tucker. Gandolfini and Kennedy are well matched as the decent, but too-loyal-to-the-Corps general and the befuddled bureaucrat.

Dark, funny and smart, “In The Loop” belongs with that small group of cunning, cutting satires, such as “Dr. Strangelove” and “Wag the Dog,” which deliver their gifts more than once. By giving us real food for thought, they really are the “gifts that keep on giving.”

Currently playing at the Landmark Theater’s E Street Cinemas in Washington, remember the title: “In The Loop.”

Unrated, but should be treated as an R, for pervasive profanity and sexual situations.

Joe’s rating: Three and one-half stars.

Joe Barber’s entertainment reports and reviews can be heard Fridays through Sundays on the WTOP-FM Radio Network (103.5, 103.9, 107.7 & Wtop.com.) He can be seen regularly on WETA-TV’s Around Town and Friday’s con Comcast Sports Net’s Washington Post Live!