David & Judy’s Script Club: In the Loop

I know.

This review is four days late.

Very sorry.

Won’t happen again.

Volcanic ash and all that.

It’s a script review, so I guarantee spoilers or your money back.

In the Loop

Screenplay be Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Tony Roche and Armando Iannuci

125 Pages

Even when reading a good comedy script, I rarely laugh out loud. In the Loop is definitely an exception because it had me belly laughing a number of times because of the wonderful verbal abuse spewed out by the majestic Malcolm Tucker. When it comes to swearing for comedic effect  this script is the gold standard that all writers should aspire to. Therefore it is worth raising a glass to Ian Martin, the “swearing consultant” on In the Thick It and also this screenplay, who helps to give Tucker more bite than a great white.

It’s not just the swearing that makes In the Loop stand out though, it’s all the dialogue because this screenplay is totally dialogue driven. The inciting incident occurs as early as page four and it is Government Minister Simon Foster’s use of the word “unforeseeable”.  From here on in, the story moves forward, not so much by people’s actions but, by what they say such as Toby accidentally leaking details of the war meeting to an old friend at CNN. For a script that deals with political spin on both sides of the Atlantic, perhaps it shouldn’t be surprising that language is so important in In the Loop but the screenplay really does go against the old adage of  “show it, don’t say it”.

Heavy reliance on dialogue aside, In the Loop is an atypical script in other aspects too. For starters who’s the central protagonist of the story? It’s Toby first day working as Simon’s aide so he is the reader’s “in” to the story but he’s hardly a  sympathetic figure (cheats on girlfriend and allows others to take the blame for his mistakes) nor does his character change during the course of the story. Simon, on the other hand, always thinks about doing the noble thing but never does and again doesn’t appear changed by the experience. Even if you view Malcolm as an anti-hero again there’s still no character arc.

The screenplay also lacks any character descriptions — I’m guessing because the writers already knew who’d be playing the roles. There’s a great example in the script where the character Roz is described as having her arm in a sling only because the actress playing her had her arm in a sling at the time. But I think you can class this as one of those happy accidents as Roz appears in the script after Simon has returned from the glamour of Washington and has to deal with the dull reality of his normal existence by visiting his constituents. Roz’s pitiful appearance reinforces this perception.

The key lesson I took from In the Loop was research, research and research! The comic moments never seemed far-fetched because the political setting the writers created seemed so real because they’d obviously done their homework. If the characters and their world seemed false, I don’t think the comedy would have worked because one of the joys of In the Loop is scarily you can imagine it  happening.

Next Week

Okay so that’s all the WGA and Oscar nominated scripts done (with the exceptions of Julie & Julia and District 9 that I can’t get hold of) – did you have a favourite? I’m sticking with The Hurt Locker,  a  hit of adrenaline in screenplay form.

Over the coming months we’ll be examining the finest examples of genre screenplays from the past decade, kicking off like a Chuck Norris roundhouse to the head with action/adventure. So if you’ve got a suggestion for an action script, I’d love to hear it.

First up is my favourite action movie (and one of my all-time  favourite movies) Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang.

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You can now also become a fan of David & Judy’s Script Club on Facebook. Here you’ll get reminders of the script of the week and be able to discuss with trendy social-networking types.

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