Television Review: The Scoop on 'In the Loop'
By Christian Becraft / Staff Writer | October 1Director Armando Iannucci described "In the Loop", a spinoff of his BBC series "The Thick of It", as an "anti-West Wing" in that it presents political bustle without the glamour of idealism.I, however, think it shares a closer analogue with another television series, The Office.It's hard not to think of Ricky Gervais' landmark series as hand-held cameras zip through the offices of staffers and low-ranking members of both the British and American governments.The film's protagonist, Minister of International Development Simon Foster (Tom Hollander), suffers from the same foot-in-mouth disease that perennially hampered David Brent.Of course, when Brent fouled up, he didn't aid the start of the Iraq War.Foster set off a media storm when he said in an interview that the possibility of an upcoming war in Iraq is "unforeseeable."He immediately reports to Director of Communications Malcolm Turner (Peter Capaldi), a blisteringly profane Scot who informs Foster of his error.So Foster should have said war was foreseeable, then?Well, no.
