Difficult, difficult, lemon difficult
Apr. 18th, 2009 12:23 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
f4f3Just got back from seeing "In The Loop", the big-screen version of "In The Thick Of It".
For anyone who hasn't seen the TV show it's vicious satire (or totally accurate reportage) of the world of political spin.
The script raises foul language to new and wonderful heights. Most of the swearing is in good West of Scotland accents, and most of it from Peter Capaldi as Malcolm Tucker. It was great to be in a cinema and hear adult laughter. I don't think this will be a huge hit as a movie - the laughs aren't focused enough - they come from all over the place, from attacks on listening to choral music "It's nothing but vowels - you only listen to it because it isn't acceptable to wear a hat saying 'I went to public school'", to broad slapstick involving garden walls, to a threat about hounding someone to assisted suicide that actually made me wince, to an inspired attempted excuse for infidelity that had me applauding in my seat.
It's also, ultimately, depressing. I always took secret pleasure from the fact that the Scot, Tucker, is smarter, more ruthless, and more focused than anyone else around him, and strongly suspect that reflects the truth of Whitehall, but when he's taken to Washington it becomes clear that he just doesn't have any real power in the big game - he wins, on his own terms, but only by ultimately doing the American politico's bidding. That left a nasty taste in my mouth.
I did laugh a hell of a lot, though.
For anyone who hasn't seen the TV show it's vicious satire (or totally accurate reportage) of the world of political spin.
The script raises foul language to new and wonderful heights. Most of the swearing is in good West of Scotland accents, and most of it from Peter Capaldi as Malcolm Tucker. It was great to be in a cinema and hear adult laughter. I don't think this will be a huge hit as a movie - the laughs aren't focused enough - they come from all over the place, from attacks on listening to choral music "It's nothing but vowels - you only listen to it because it isn't acceptable to wear a hat saying 'I went to public school'", to broad slapstick involving garden walls, to a threat about hounding someone to assisted suicide that actually made me wince, to an inspired attempted excuse for infidelity that had me applauding in my seat.
It's also, ultimately, depressing. I always took secret pleasure from the fact that the Scot, Tucker, is smarter, more ruthless, and more focused than anyone else around him, and strongly suspect that reflects the truth of Whitehall, but when he's taken to Washington it becomes clear that he just doesn't have any real power in the big game - he wins, on his own terms, but only by ultimately doing the American politico's bidding. That left a nasty taste in my mouth.
I did laugh a hell of a lot, though.
