In The Loop

Now that's what I call top spin!

Alastair Campbell isn't entirely wrong about In The Loop. It's a messy, unstructured comedy with moments of naivety and an unnecessarily dark view of politicians. But it's mercilessly accurate in its analysis of what's most wrong with New Labour, and it made me laugh out loud at least 20 more times than The Boat That Rocked.

Look who's talking

The picture has much to recommend it, though no one could accuse it of being aesthe­tically arresting. It trades in the wobbly camerawork and abrupt editing that would have been called vérité in more innocent times, but Iannucci's control of image is not always as accomplished as his insights into language.

In cinemas tomorrow is In the Loop, more or less the best British comedy I've ever seen. The dialogue in the film is incredible and includes some simply breathtaking bits of swearing. They've effectively elevated saying the word "fuck" into an art-form in its own right - up there with poetry and opera.

You could make it up

As a plot, it sounds far-fetched. A spat between political bloggers. A Downing Street adviser writes scurrilous e-mails about smearing the opposition. The story comes out and he resigns. All played out over a bank holiday weekend. Except that you could make it up - and it's likely that writer Armando Iannucci already has.

Offended by brutal spinmeister? No. I was bored

Malcolm Tucker's big-screen debut In the Loop didn't get under my skin because it never rang true. It was all one long cartoon.

In The Loop: Malcolm Tucker hits the big screen

"Shut it, love, actually, or I'll hole-punch your face." "Kiss my sweaty balls, you fat f***." "You sounded like a f***ing Nazi Julie Andrews." It doesn't take long for In the Loop to carpet-bomb you into willing submission. With the laughs detonating at a rate of far more than one a minute, the script comes at you like a block entry for The Oxford Dictionary of Weapons-Grade Invective.

The source for this flurry of slurry, offered in the bilious spirit of great Augustan satire, is, of course, none other than Malcolm Tucker. Viewers first came across the PM's potty-mouthed communications chief in the BBC comedy The Thick of It. In this X-rated update of Yes Minister, he pistol-whipped all those unfortunate enough to cross his path: spluttering ministers, quivering civil servants, squirming journalists and quaking press spokespeople. With In the Loop, Tucker now has his own film.

That's me and him from The Sopranos

In the Loop - a political farce set in London and Washington - is the brilliant cinematic debut of Armando Iannucci. Here, in a candid behind-the-scenes diary, the satirist reveals the joys of playing basketball with star James Gandolfini and the pleasure of a hometown screening in front of his eightysomething mum ...

In the Loop review

Anticipation surrounding Armando Iannucci's film directing debut has been high, as befits arguably the most influential man in British comedy over the last two decades, and In The Loop exceeds almost all of those expectations.

Armando Iannucci - Comedy of Errors

It's utterly fitting that Armando Iannucci's In the Loop opens this year's Glasgow Film festival. His debut film, like the festival, is brave, funny and a real crowd pleaser.

UK premiere for In The Loop

Armando Iannucci's In The Loop is to receive its British premiere at the Glasgow Film Festival next month. The spin-off from the BBC satire The Thick Of It will be unveiled at the Sundance Film Festival tonight, where it has already been highly praised by reviewers who attended a preview screening, before heading to Iannucci's birthplace.