In the Loop

The handheld camerawork, partly improvised dialogue and inventively foul language of BBC TV's political satire The Thick of It transfer seamlessly to the big screen as the same team of writers, led by director Armando Iannucci, take some of the show's characters beyond its Westminster departmental setting. A fictionalised Anglo-American push for war in the Middle East is used to prick not just the absurdity of government spin, but also the grandstanding arrogance of Washington DC when low-ranking cabinet minister Simon Foster (Tom Hollander) accidentally precipitates a military invasion with a poorly chosen word. Despite the efforts of monstrous Downing Street enforcer Malcolm Tucker (Peter Capaldi), Foster and his ambitious junior policy adviser (Chris Addison) must become embroiled in shuttle diplomacy to halt the war. Though events culminate at the United Nations in New York, the more glamorous international backdrops never subtract from what made The Thick of It so compulsive: its on-the-hoof, verité shooting style and the tireless emphasis on clever writing.