In the Loop... and ahead of the pack

This is Malcolm Tucker. He's the frighteningly believable but sadly only fictional creation of the cleverest man in Britain: Armando Iannucci.

It's Malcolm's job to keep the flotsam and jestam of Government ministers - blown from one deeply held opinion to the next by the tide of popular opinion - in line. He throws himself at this task with such wholehearted, venomous force that to watch him go about it on the cinema screen is an experience akin to having your eyes sliced open with a rusty bottle-opener. I imagine. 

Malcolm is the main character in 'In the Loop', Armando Iannucci's big screen version of his rightly acclaimed BBC TV series 'The Thick Of It'. I'm happy to say that operating on the larger canvas of film does nothing to stretch the quality of the writing and perfomances on display. 

The strength of the TV series was a winning combination of biting political satire and swearwords. Happily, the same formula is at work in the film. Had they decided to have a swear-box on set, we could probably do away with the BBC licence fee instantly and run the Corporation on its daily takings instead.

The TV show successfully got the measure of Westminster. This film adds Washington and the United Nations into the mix. What you get is a seemingly limitless stream of invective from Malcolm as he tries to keep his Government's plans for war on an unnamed rogue state on track. The case for the real war against Iraq looks so flimsy now as to place it almost beyond satire, so the strength of the film is to use this merely as a backdrop. Instead it's an expletive driven romp which explores the failings of the human character just as thouroughly as it does Roger Melly's Profanisaurus.

Cabinet Ministers incompetently chase any opportunity to advance their careers. Their aides mumble backstage about their employers' shortcomings whilst demonstrating no more self-awareness themselves. And the American big guns show that stupidity, arrogance and hubris are definitely all amongst their super-powers.

In the midst of this circus is Malcolm Tucker (A word here for the actor Peter Capaldi whose performance as Malcolm can only be defined as exhilarating).

In one of the film's most satisfying scenes, Malcolm's puppeteering looks like it's about to flop and Capaldi's face shows the tiniest flicker of recognition that his barking, snarling tactics are for once useless. Another flicker and his split second of impotence is over but its shadow remains and that's what makes him the hero of the piece, if not quite the Ringmaster.

I strongly urge you to spend some time in the company of Malcolm when 'In the Loop' debuts at the cinema on 17th April. It'll be worth the admission price alone when you get to the scene about MP's expenses: Ultra-prescient genius. This film was written and shot months before we knew about the McNultys' or the Smiths' indiscressions - and that's what makes Armando Iannucci's commentary on the political game so clear-sighted. He does both the sophisticated and the base perfectly.

Actually, you might want to take a notepad in with you just to jot down some of the more choice put-downs and name-calling. If you get cut up at some traffic lights or spend too long on hold to your bank, they'll keep you going for a year. The trouble is, they come so thick and fast you'll certainly need shorthand.