[4.1]
Hilarious and perfectly cast, this ranks up with WAG THE DOG and DR. STRANGELOVE as one of the best political satires. The action all stems from a perfectly conceived case of confused semantics. A seemingly harmless British politician mentions in a radio interview that he views war in the Middle East as “not unforeseeable.” As the characters (and audience) try to grasp how war is neither foreseeable nor not unforeseeable, the actors squabble in snappy one-liners and pop culture references that flow so fast that I’m sure I missed some really juicy bits. It’s hard to conceive of a more wonderfully assembled cast. Everyone pulls off their roles seemingly effortlessly, and there were nearly a dozen memorable roles: Tom Hollander as the dull-witted, if good intentioned Simon Foster; Mimi Kennedy as the scheming U.S. politician Karen Clarke; James Gandolfini as a peace-loving General; the two career-clawing aides, the epitome of a US Career Politician, a couple of foul-mouthed Scottish ministers, and two feuding British assistants. Besides the cast and characters, the script is so well conceived that even a simple gag like having Karen Clarke’s teeth start bleeding in the middle of a meeting made me burst out laughing. Foster’s first visit to the U.S. is a wonderful mix of awe and trying to seem important. There are too many funny moments to mention, but Foster’s meeting with his constituents (one of whom won’t stop complaining about a wall that might fall on his old mum), the Scottish minister forcing the U.N. Secretary to change and re-change the scheduling of an important vote, and any scene with Gandolfini were some highlights. I would love to see this again, and it’s an astounding first feature for veteran TV director Armando Iannucci.
burning retina 