We saw this report on Variety this morning, about the British political satire, “In the Loop,” directed by Armando Iannucci, starring James Gandolfini, which IFC Films will debut in theaters on July 24, and also premiere on cable video-on-demand later this month as well. More and more indies are doing that same-day 360-style debut pioneered by Mark Burnett, Steve Soderbergh and Magnolia Pictures (many thought this “changed the rules” of feature film releases; but granted, this release doesn’t include DVD).
But perhaps more interesting to us is how it reminded us of a wild dig at the end of the film, which we saw during BAMCinemafest a few weeks ago, at “I Heart Huckabees.”
Let’s back up a sec. “In The Loop” is a political comedy in the vein of “The Office,” that played to favorable reviews at Sundance earlier this year. We didn’t fully love it. It’s riotously funny at times, but as an extension/spin-off of a TV series — Iannucci’s British political BBC show “The Thick of It” — it does feel incredibly episodic (as you’d imagine). But one unquestionably excellent element of the film is Scottish actor, Peter Capaldi who reprises his Malcolm Tucker character from that show, a highly aggressive and domineering pitbull Director of Communications for the British Government.
His character is savaging, caustic; dropping new forms of f-bombs and vulgarities that are laugh out loud funny. However, at the end of the picture, in the credits, there’s a random dis at David O. Russell’s “I Heart Huckabees” for no apparent reason that we could discern.
We can’t quote what was said verbatim, but during the credits where they’re showing the continuing adventures of these characters, there’s a scene where Capaldi’s Malcom rips into ‘Huckbees,’ for being highly “pretentious” (the words “utter shite” and “twattery” may have been used as well). Since we sort of agree with this sentiment (an overrated film ‘Huckabees’ is, that’s for sure), we laughed hard, but there were more than a few audience members laughing and also turning their heads mouthing, “wtf?” It seemed like a very random and out of context moment.
So is it just an outtake from a scene that would have made more context within the picture? Iannucci simply putting O.Russell on blast? Or the director just using the credits to drop a little swipe at the existentialist comedy that he might particularly hate? No clue, but we’re hoping someone asks Iannuci about it, or better even yet, O. Russell who wrote ‘Huckabees’ based on his interest in Buddhism and his growing spiritual interest in the early aughts. We’re sure he’d have a fun response to say the least.
Update: A friend in the know writes in about some other deleted scenes in the film. Apparently there are other digs. “There is one where Jamie rips at ‘There Will Be Blood’ for having no blood, and another where Malcolm, about to get on a plane, says “The only time I get to see a movie is on a plane. It better not be that ‘Atonement’ shit or I’ll be up at the cockpit with my box cutters’. “
