Latest screening: In The Loop

Ah, blessed be, a British comedy that is actually funny! After Lesbian Vampire Killers and the, almost unbelievably, even more excrable The Boat That Rocked, In The Loop is refreshingly chock full of genuine laughs.

I am not familiar with The Thick Of It, the TV show that originated Peter Capaldi's (left) wonderfully foul-mouthed tyrannical Malcolm Tucker, but that didn't matter one iota. The film audience gets to meet Malcolm soon enough and you get the measure of the man immediately. You are straight in on the joke. He is a character so fully formed in Capaldi's manner, speech, blood that you feel you've known him and watched him for years.

Tom Hollander is fantastic too, easily holding his own in what could so easily have been Capaldi's one-man show. Hollander has shown his capabilities before but is rarely given the opportunity to fully display them. I would argue his supporting turn in A Good Year was a dry run for his gloriously inept muppet minister Simon "Fluster" Foster here. He is the perfect frustrating foil to Capaldi. As Hollander stands still, looking all around in confused befuddlement so Capaldi's shark-like Tucker always moves forward, sometimes striking, sometimes on-guard but always on keeping up the momentum.

While this pair own the film other actors get there moments. Anna (My Girl) Chlumsky is strong as a Washington aide inadvertently in over her head while the constantly baiting Chad is an annoying delight! Gina McKee is excellent as always. David Rasche is suitably slimey. James Gandolfini meanwhile, initially seeming out of his depth in early scenes, settles in and gets one of the films subtlest but thoroughly deserved laughs with his "icing on the cake" facial reaction to Malcolm's line quoted on the above poster.

The film is littered with hilarious one-liners that are eminently quotable, mostly from Capaldi and Hollander. One such from Capaldi to a tourist who pulls him up on his language outside the White House is particularly satisfying.

There are a few issues. The film, while constantly laugh out loud funny, never quite separates itself from feeling like a long tv show and doesn't feel wholly suited to a cinema screen. While the plot works hard to make it key a sub-plot featuring Steve Coogan as an angry constituent never feels necessary while it plays out.

Those aside however In The Loop is a fun watch. Like Borat (though not as funny) it will have you laughing out loud, though also like Borat it may well leave you knowing once will probably have been enough.