In the Loop (2009)

Only the British could produce a satire about the build-up to the Iraq War as acidic, vulgar, bullet-paced and laugh-out-loud funny as “In the Loop,” all while remaining as fiercely smart as it is sharp. Filmed in the “you are there” style of “The Office,” this gem nails everything that the American-made “War Inc.” missed. We follow semi-higher-ups in the British and American governments (including Tom Hollander, James Gandolfini, Mimi Kennedy and an all-out-for-blood Peter Capaldi as PR handler from hell Malcolm Tucker) as they do everything within their power and beyond to either avoid a questionable war in the Middle East or dive right in whilst forking over the other guy, and stand (stoop?) tall. Puns, politics, petty differences and grudges, and missed cues mesmerize. I can’t pin one favorite scene, but when Capaldi’s Tucker dismisses an assistant as “Ron Weasley” and belittles a way-young White House assistant, blood is drawn. “War Inc.” insulted troops, had a pop princess sideshow, and had grown men fighting in the rear of a garbage truck. All for nothing. “Loop” makes editing Penatgon white papers riotously hilarious. Classic. A