IN THE LOOP of satire.

The director and some of the cast of IN THE LOOP (sans James Gandolfini)

War & satire. What a combo. In the words of Sundance senior programmer John Nein, "If it weren't so funny, it would be terrifying."

At a time when it seems like we might actually experience some transparency in Washington, along comes the film IN THE LOOP. It's about a farcical lead up to war, and the players that completely mess things up in a modern day screwball comedy. The director, Armando Iannucci, weaves a stellar script with souped up and curse filled improv in this hysterical romp of transcontinental zaniness, internal corruption, and overtly blatant transgressions by senior officials in the US and UK government. Only it's all fictional. To echo that point, the audience doesn't know any details about who the war is between, what it's about, or how it really came to be. On the heels of the Bush administration, the satire seems all too real. Here's hoping that things really will change and that this kind of overt corruption is behind us.

And to add to the satire, the director injected a snarky comment as he was introducing the film. He talked about watching the Chief justice forget the words to the oath of office, and that it caused him to write down the name of his film just in case. During the Q & A, when asked what inspired him, Iannucci responded, "Isn't it obvious? I thought long and hard about the events leading up to Iraq, and decided you can either cry or you can laugh". That's the genesis. He went on to say that they were very clear to be anonymous in the present day, but with the implication that a fabricated war could happen again.

It's nearly impossible to watch this film and not really feel like you're a voyeur into this wacky world of Washington and the UK. With picture perfect recreations of the White House, the State Department, and the UN, the filmmaker also admitted during the intro that he was able to gain access to the State Department by showing his homemade BBC identification card.

There is such an interwoven mountain of content in IN THE LOOP, when the director said that the editing was really when the story was told, it made a lot of sense. Mostly filled with relatively fresh faces (for the US anyway), there is one quite well known face. James Gandolfini plays a General, and in his supporting role, casts a brilliant addition to this already wonderful, albeit thought provoking satirical film.