In the Loop

"The fate of the world is on the line."

2009 1h 46m EN

👍

7.0

SOLID

🔥

94%

CERTIFIED FRESH

💯

METACRITIC

⭐

7.4

IMDB

★7.0TMDB · 815🍅94%Rotten Tomatoes●83Metacritic★7.4IMDB · 63,276

Comedy

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

The US President and the UK Prime Minister are planning on launching a war in the Middle East, but—behind the scenes—government officials and advisers are either promoting the war or are trying to prevent it.

“The fate of the world is on the line.”

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Cast

Peter Capaldi
Malcolm Tucker
Tom Hollander
Simon Foster
Gina McKee
Judy Molloy
James Gandolfini
Lt Gen. George Miller
Chris Addison
Toby Wright
Anna Chlumsky
Liza Weld
Paul Higgins
Jamie McDonald
Mimi Kennedy
Karen Clarke

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Armando Iannucci
Writers: Armando Iannucci, Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell
Languages: English
Countries: United Kingdom

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $1.1M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Made its money back 5.6× over at the box office.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 17 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Armando Iannucci, shot by Jamie Cairney. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Adem Ilhan. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Billy Sneddon shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Peter Capaldi and Tom Hollander and Gina McKee carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "The fate of the world is on the line.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Armando Iannucci directs. Jamie Cairney behind the camera. Adem Ilhan scores. Billy Sneddon cuts. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United Kingdom. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Shot for just $1.1M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
2Made its money back 5.6× over at the box office.
3Released 17 years ago.
4Directed by Armando Iannucci, shot by Jamie Cairney. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by Adem Ilhan. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Billy Sneddon shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Peter Capaldi and Tom Hollander and Gina McKee carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "The fate of the world is on the line.".
9IMDB entry: tt1226774 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
10Classified under 14 themes, including "washington dc, usa", "dark comedy", "political incompetence", "warmongering".

The technical file

Cinematography: Jamie Cairney
Original score: Adem Ilhan
Editing: Billy Sneddon
Production design: Cristina Casali
Makeup / hair: Marese Langan
Runtime: 106 min · 1h 46m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $1,100,000
Box office: $6,200,000
Return: 564% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): NR
IMDB: In the Loop (2009)
Rotten Tomatoes: 94% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 83/100
IMDB rating: 7.4/10 · 63,276 votes
MPAA: Not Rated

Awards

Nominated for 1 Oscar. 16 wins & 43 nominations total

Also by

Armando Iannucci

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Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

Peter McGinn2021-12-05
★ 6/10
E his political satire is bursting with energy and, at times, with crackling dialogue. Hunger for power, incompetence, lack of respect for others, and betrayal are on full display. The movie had no problem keeping my interest, though it did lose my respect at times. The characters came across to me as fairly two-dimensional cardboard cutouts, and I was a little surprised to find they were exc=aptly the same way at the end. Maybe character growth is not needed in comedy, but a little more depth would have been great. I thought Gandolfini, Gina McKey and Mimi Kennedy came the closest to making their candidates real, but ultimately the script let them down. The Malcolm character was there at every turn to shout them down. The constant use of curse words reveals a lack of imagination, a lazy writer’s way of trying to titillate the audience. But when you hear the f-bomb every fifteen seconds, it loses all its shock value and exposes that lazy writing. So while the movie never lost me, it never really captured me either. I was just along for the ride.
CinemaSerf2024-04-17
★ 6/10
Peter Capaldi seems to be in his element as the foul-mouthed political aide "Tucker" in this look at just whether it's the tail that does the political wagging of the dog. He has it in for the British International Development Secretary "Foster" (Tom Hollander) who finds an off the cuff quote during a radio interview plunges him into a debate on both sides of the Atlantic about a potential war scenario. "Tucker" thinks he can just railroad his opinion through by sheer force of nature and excessive Anglo-Saxon peppered invective, but the American side of this are a bit more subtle - and "Gen. Miller" (James Gandolfini) and State Department deputy under secretary for countries beginning with the letter C - "Karen Clark" (Mimi Kennedy) take "Foster" at face value and what follows in now a quickly paced game of manipulation, duplicity and spookily ambitious interns. At times this quite potently mixes the scenarios of a "Yes, Minister" edition with the writing sharpness of the "West Wing" but for the most part I just found it all a bit too repetitious and vulgar. I think "Judy" (Gina McKee) would have been perfectly justified attacking "Tucker" with a rusty stapler and after about fifteen minutes I began to wonder why she didn't. It's his unfettered obnoxiousness that robs the thing of even the faintest sense of realism. The aforementioned television series worked because the roots of their humour were based in something plausible, the humour was a little more sophisticated and the characters not so crass. Hollander does well though, the mouse minister who fills a chair with little ideology one way or the other, as does Chris Addison as the weathervane analyst "Toby" who really has mastered the art of straddling the proverbial fence with aplomb. For me, though, sorry - this lacks any form of class with the quickly paced but far too abrasive and unconvincing a lead character. It was made at a time when the chief of staff role to the British Prime Minister was under a bit of a spotlight, so it's an easy target for Ianucci to throw stones at - I just like my comedy a little more thoughtful and a little less custard pie.