British humour used to leave me in stitches. Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, the Pythons, the Goodies, Marty Feldman - I loved them all. So what happened? Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and friends are as funny as a fart at the opera, "The Boat That Rocked", "Lesbian Vampire Killers", "Death at a Funeral" et al were only mildly funnier than "Schindlers List", and now we have "In The Loop", supposedly "the funniest British comedy in decades." Well, that could be right, but it doesn't mean that it's funny. Occasionally, my lips twitched in anticipation of impending mirth, but they soon reverted to a thin, grim line as the opportunity passed.
Not that US humour fares any better. Adam Sandler, Rob Schneider, Jason Segel, Seth Rogen are all pretty well unwatchable (although "Observe and Report" was a pleasant surprise). The last belly laughs I got from a movie were from the Sandra Bullock vehicles "Miss Congeniality" and "The Proposal". Probably the last half-decent British comedy I saw was "Love Actually". Well, no, it was actually the brilliant movie "Sixty-Six" although that was a bit more than a comedy.
So "In The Loop" just struck me as a foul-mouthed, unfunny attempt to take deep and satirical digs at politics and politicians which failed miserably. The Kirsten Dunst/Michelle Williams take on Watergate, "Dick", was a funnier, more subtle and more perceptive movie than this.
Maybe it's me - the definition of what's funny has changed, and it passed me by. Maybe I'll just go back to watching Leni Reifenstahl documentaries or something.
Not that US humour fares any better. Adam Sandler, Rob Schneider, Jason Segel, Seth Rogen are all pretty well unwatchable (although "Observe and Report" was a pleasant surprise). The last belly laughs I got from a movie were from the Sandra Bullock vehicles "Miss Congeniality" and "The Proposal". Probably the last half-decent British comedy I saw was "Love Actually". Well, no, it was actually the brilliant movie "Sixty-Six" although that was a bit more than a comedy.
So "In The Loop" just struck me as a foul-mouthed, unfunny attempt to take deep and satirical digs at politics and politicians which failed miserably. The Kirsten Dunst/Michelle Williams take on Watergate, "Dick", was a funnier, more subtle and more perceptive movie than this.
Maybe it's me - the definition of what's funny has changed, and it passed me by. Maybe I'll just go back to watching Leni Reifenstahl documentaries or something.