RON SWARNER: MUST SEE FILM OPENS FRIDAY AT THE GRAND >>>

“Has he posted it yet?” I asked my film editor Bill White.

“Nope,” he quipped. “In fact, he’s not reviewing it this week.”

“What the hell?” I replied.

For whatever reason Roger Ebert is not reviewing Scottish writer-director Armando Iannucci’s big-screen debut, In The Loop, which opens at The Grand Cinema Friday. That’s a shame. I caught this wickedly hilarious parody last week and highly recommend it.

The film clearly draws inspiration from the run-up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq by the United States and the Coalition of the Willing. Instead of Bush bashing, In the Loop’s satire takes a smarter, indirect path. The movie reserves its big comedic guns for the favor-currying, ass-covering bureaucrats on either side of the Atlantic.

I laughed by ass off for an hour then fell asleep. Washington City Paper’s review of the flick explains why â€" skipping the explanation of why I tried to watch it at 3 a.m. Their review is dead on.

LINK: The Grand Cinema