History Film / InTheLoop

* {{Adminisphere}}: The film continues the show's depiction of the British government as being a bunch of out-of-touch policy wonks, professional politicos and media-management types completely removed from, contemptuous of and slightly frightened by the public they're supposed to represent (with the clear implication that the American government isn't much better). It's most obviously represented by Simon foolishly embroiling himself in grand matters of state, international diplomacy and warfare while completely ignoring and avoiding his constituent who just wants him to get the wall of his constituency office fixed so it stops crumbling into his mum's back garden. [[spoiler: This ends up completely destroying his career when Malcolm uses it against him.]] Most notably, all the fuss about the war is discussed almost purely on political terms, with hardly any mention of how anyone's life anywhere is going to be made better by what they're doing.
* {{Ambadassador}}: Linton Barwick

--> "Within your ''purview''? Where do you think you are, in some fucking regency costume drama? This is a government department, not a fucking Jane fucking Austen novel! Allow me to pop a jaunty little bonnet on your purview and ram it up the shitter with a lubricated horse cock!"

* CloudCuckooLander: Linton Barwick is an extremely unsettling version. His casual disregard for reality (changing minutes and wholesale rewriting of intelligence reports) mirrors Malcolm's attitude toward spin and damage control, but ''without any of the irony''. As Karen Clarke puts it, the voices in his head are "singing barbershop together". And apart from his {{Ice Cream Koan}}s, there are his odd almost-but-not-quite {{non sequitur}}s.
--> '''Linton:''' "Glass offices, in my opinion, are for ''perverts''."\\

-->'''Jamie:''' Just mess it all up, move the paragraphs around, change the name of the main informant...
-->'''Michael Rodgers MP:''' Well, that's a complete fabrication!
-->'''Jamie:''' Changing a guy's name doesn't make any difference! D'you think he's really called "Iceman"? "To Mr. and Mrs. Man, a son: Ice"?

--> '''Simon:''' "Meat in the room?" For fuck's sake Judy, I've taken an hour out of my day to come over here and be ''room meat''.\\

* ControlFreak: Linton, to the extent that he objects to ''Film/IHeartHuckabees'' being listed as an appropriate [=DVD=] for the American military roster. Purely because he thinks it's self-indulgent rubbish.

** It is also [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] by Toby after they all fly back to the UK: "From [[TheWhiteHouse White House]] to Shite House".

* {{Foreshadowing}}: At one point, Simon floats the possibility of doing a U-turn on his public position and coming out in support of the war, wondering whether it would in fact be braver to do so than to stick with his publicly stated position. [[spoiler: At the end, General Miller uses Simon's reasoning almost exactly to justify why he's not going to resign.]]

* FunWithAcronyms: PWIP PIP

--> '''Jamie:''' "Right, that's enough of the fucking Oxbridge pleasantries..."\\

-->"You are a real boring fuck. Sorry, sorry, I know you disapprove of swearing so I'll sort that out. [[CensoredForComedy You are a boring F, star, star, CUNT!]]"

** Arguably he deconstructs this later on:
---> '''Miller:''' "What, you think they should make you drag in a bullet-ridden corpse to the Pentagon every five years to renew your soldier's licence?"

* YouBastard: Malcolm is [[MagnificentBastard such a charming and charismatic character]] that audiences find themselves cheering him on as he tries to show Linton Barwick that he isn't a worthless piece of ess-star-star-tee... even though achieving this would also involve starting an illegal war.

'''Simon:''' [[SarcasmMode Oh great, I'm not liver.]] What am I then, ''tit'' meat?

* StupidStatementDanceMix: Among the "media forces of darkness" Malcolm threatens Simon with if he [[spoiler:makes a fuss over being sacked]] is to have his "climb the mountain of conflict" comment made into one of these.

-->'''Simon:''' [[SarcasmMode No. You're right.]] I'm being unfair. I should be ''thanking'' you for ''not'' throwing up. ''Well done''. You're a ''star''. And you didn't wet yourself, did you? You're in the right city. You didn't say anything overtly racist. You didn't pull your ''dick'' out and start [[ADateWithRosiePalms plucking it]] shouting "Willy Banjo!" No, I'm being really unfair! You got ''so much'' right... without actually ''being there'' for the beginning of one of the most important moments of my career. ''Thanks''. You're a ''legend''.

* UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist: Most of the cast but Toby arguably comes across as the most dislikeable, being the particularly obnoxious combination of selfish, weak ''and'' self righteous.

* ComplimentBackfire: "What am I? Tit meat?"

** James Gandolfini visited the Pentagon (legally) while researching for the part of General Miller. He went as far as getting a haircut from the Pentagon barber and having some scary conversations with generals. His recollection of one who couldn't actually remember if he'd killed anyone later inspired one of Malcolm's "Have you ever even actually killed anyone?" in the film.

--->''"You know what you look like? A squeezed dick. You've got [[LampshadeHanging that little blue vein]] running up the side of your head..."''
** General Miller

** And of course, there's this insult by Malcolm, who swears at Linton, but then realises that he disapproves of swearing. Malcolm then does a VerbalBackspace and then ''still'' swears at him, actually cranking it UpToEleven in the process.

--> '''Malcolm Tucker:''' "[[ActuallyPrettyFunny Falling asleep on someone doesn't count.]]"

** The film opens with a shot of Malcolm sweeping into [[{{Whitehall}} Number 10]] in his BadassLongcoat. It continues in this vein as the action moves between {{Whitehall}}, TheWhiteHouse, the UN building and Simon's constituency in Northamptonshire.

* {{Whitehall}}

* OrwellianEditor: Most notably, rewriting an intelligence report because it doesn't say what they want. But perhaps more disturbingly, Linton seems to treat ''his own memory of events'' this way:
-->'''Linton:''' "Went well in there."\\
'''Aide:''' "Got a little hairy at times."\\
'''Linton:''' ''(breezily)'' "No it didn't."

Creator/TomHollander joins the cast as Simon Foster, the hapless Minister for International Development. Creator/PeterCapaldi returns as Malcolm Tucker, the Prime Minister's Director of Communications, who is called upon to stop Foster from giving any statements to the press... or to the Americans... or [[YouTalkTooMuch talking in general]]. Foster is also joined by his senior aide, Judy Molloy (Creator/GinaMcKee), and [[TheMillstone millstone]]--er, junior aide Toby Wright (Creator/ChrisAddison).

** Malcolm seemingly has absolutely no moral principles beyond his own job. Notably, unlike his TV counterpart, he never shows any empathy or sympathy for anyone. (What appears to be momentary lapses in this usually turnout to be manipulation.)

* ArmchairMilitary: General Miller currently, though he admits to having killed people 15 years ago so it presumably didn't always apply.

* TheBadGuyWins: It's pretty inevitable that the pro-war side is going to win eventually, because the film is based on the build-up to a war which actually happened in real life. As it turns out, though, the ''only'' characters who get what they want in the end are Linton (the AxCrazy warmonger), Jamie (the only person in the film ''more'' psychologically disturbed than Linton) and the even-more-aggressively-amoral-than-usual Malcolm Tucker.
* BadNewsInAGoodWay: [[spoiler: After Michael admits to leaking PWIP-PIP, Jamie later barges into his office to cheerfully inform him that he isn't fired, asking if that isn't a good thing. Michael notes that it ''sounds'' ominous. He's right too.]]
** And when [[spoiler: Simon is fired over the collapse of the wall]], Malcolm begins by telling him he ''doesn't'' have to resign.

* BlackComedy: Some of the political antics are funny until one remembers that the "unforeseeable" war in question will lead to a [[ForegoneConclusion long and pointless standoff in the Middle East.]] Toby and Simon convincing each other that [[DirtyCoward ''knowingly publicly supporting something you're absolutely against'']] is the "braver option" also reeks of this.

** A subtle one. Judy guesses Toby's name as being Daniel or a variation, because new people apparently often have that name. Come the end of the film, [[spoiler:Toby's replacement turns out to be called "Danny Dan".]]

* TheCatchPhraseCatchesOn: In-universe. Simon's attempt to undo the damage from his first (anti-war) gaffe becomes a rallying cry for the pro-war forces: "To walk the path of peace, you must be prepared to '''climb the mountain of conflict."''' Linton uses it to try and draw out Simon during the well-attended Future Planning Committee meeting; later we see Linton also has it printed and hung up on his wall.

** Toby and Simon don't know in which room the meeting is being held, leading to a misunderstanding outside the [[spoiler:ladies bathroom]].

* DarkerAndEdgier: The series had its fair share of dark comedy, but this deals with FAR weightier issues than anything in the series did.

-->'''Malcolm Tucker:''' "Are you sure you're working as hard as me? 'cause I'm sweating spinal fluid. I'm a fucking husk."

** Notably highlighted in a scene where Toby, Simon and Judy are on their way to the UN, and Simon is hesitantly floating the notion that maybe it would be much braver to change his publicly expressed views and come down in support the war. Both Simon and Toby pointedly ignore [[OnlySaneMan Judy]] when she bluntly points out that no, it wouldn't be.

** General Miller may have physical courage, but his decision [[spoiler: not to resign]] (''after'' [[spoiler: Karen has already done so]]) shows a total lack of moral backbone.
* DownerEnding: [[spoiler: Malcolm ends up doing the dirty work of a man he swore he didn't work for; After repeatedly waffling, Simon's career is all but finished when he's sacked rather than being able to resign to make a statement; Clarke's resignation loses its power when Miller refuses to do so; Liza's working for a man concerned with which movies are on a soldier's approved roster; Toby's career is over before it even begins and he leaves quietly when the new aide arrives. And everyone has to live with the inevitable war that's going to happen, and one Miller knows no one is prepared for, having pointed out to Clarke earlier that the US just doesn't have the available troops.]]

Creator/TomHollander joins the cast as Simon Foster, the hapless Minister for International Development. Creator/PeterCapaldi returns as Malcolm Tucker, the Prime Minister's Director of Communications, who is called upon to stop Foster from giving any statements to the press... or to the Americans... or [[YouTalkTooMuch talking in general]]. Foster is also joined by his senior aide, Judy Molloy (Gina [=McKee=]), and [[TheMillstone millstone]]--er, junior aide Toby Wright (Chris Addison).

When Foster makes two contradictory statements regarding a possible war in an unspecified Middle Eastern country, he finds himself summoned to a fact-finding mission in Washington, where he is used to push arguments both for and against the war. The Brits comes face-to-face with their US counterparts, including the hawkish Linton Barwick (David Rasche) and the dovish General Miller (James Gandolfini).

* DarkerAndEdgier: The series had its fair share of dark comedy, but this deals with FAR weightier issues than anything in the series did.

* CelebrityParadox: when Simon is trying to think of who he would want to be stuck on a desert island with, Judy vetoes Creator/KeiraKnightley. Knightley previously appeared opposite Tom Hollander in ''Film/PrideAndPrejudice2005''.
** Later, Jamie tells Toby to "shut it, ''Film/LoveActually''!" - a film directed by Richard Curtis, who also directed ''Film/NottingHill''. Judy Molloy looks suspiciously similar to Notting Hill's Bella.

* UsefulNotes/BritainVersusTheUK: Not so much subverted as set straight by the Scottish Malcolm: "Don't ever call me fucking ''English'' again".

* CelebrityParadox: when Simon is trying to think of who he would want to be stuck on a desert island with, Judy vetoes Kiera Knightley. Knightley previously appeared opposite Tom Hollander in ''Film/PrideAndPrejudice2005''.