"Stanley Kubrick's dark comedy—about the escalation of the cold war through the death of language, reason, and humanity—was the birth of modern irony as a way of understanding, or at least mocking, power."

Yeah, if you discount the fact that Catch-22 came out 3 years earlier. Fail.

"Iannucci isn't advancing an argument for a superior ideology the way inferior political satires like War, Inc. or Bob Roberts or Bowling for Columbine did. "

Aren't the examples listed above documentary films? Don't documentary films typical put forth an argument?

@3 Bob Roberts is so not a documentary. Neither is War, Inc. Criticism fail.

@3 Bob Roberts is so not a documentary. Neither is War, Inc. Criticism fail.

Grr, double post. Anyways, I really liked this review. Its one of The Stranger's better ones, if it is a little overboard (and fanboyish) with the praise (though I haven't seen the movie yet).

Yeah, this review is precisely why movie critics still matter. I'd never heard of this movie, but Netflix has and is now saving it for my queue when it's available on DVD.

The problem with those other films mentioned (War Inc., etc) is that they miss the point of satire by applying their morality bumper sticker. Until I saw this film, I was convinced that the ghost of Terry Southern was dead for good. What Southern did in Strangelove, but also in The Magic Christian among others, was prove the DADAist point that if the world is brutal, absurdity is the only response.

The brilliance of this film is that it manages to be flat-out hilarious while still feeling within the realm of the real. Southern used absurdity to point out the idiotic pandering to power America fell to in the mid-century. This film uses absurdity to point out that even in our cynical age, those power structures still exist and the power they have is just as real, but it does it without outright mockery of the absurd people its filming.

Not all the comedy is in the words: the characterization of English, Scottish and Americans types is spot-on and hilarious. The inner-office politics well-laid, and just for the insults alone, this is worth the price of admission. As someone who saw the film, I'll back Nelson's remarks.

The problem with those other films mentioned (War Inc., etc) is that they miss the point of satire by applying their morality bumper sticker. Until I saw this film, I was convinced that the ghost of Terry Southern was dead for good. What Southern did in Strangelove, but also in The Magic Christian among others, was prove the DADAist point that if the world is brutal, absurdity is the only response.

The brilliance of this film is that it manages to be flat-out hilarious while still feeling within the realm of the real. Southern used absurdity to point out the idiotic pandering to power America fell to in the mid-century. This film uses absurdity to point out that even in our cynical age, those power structures still exist and the power they have is just as real, but it does it without outright mockery of the absurd people its filming.

Not all the comedy is in the words: the characterization of English, Scottish and Americans types is spot-on and hilarious. The inner-office politics well-laid, and just for the insults alone, this is worth the price of admission. As someone who saw the film, I'll back Nelson's remarks.

This was an amazingly funny movie.

Oh, and if you don't like the Scottish jokes, I'll rip your head off and spit down your throat before I feed it to a meat grinder and serve it up to some weasels.

(helps if you've seen the movie to get the above)

I have to agree with #7; I would never have heard of this if not for the review here, and by the sounds of it, I'll love this. Thank you, Sean.

I just came from seeing it, and indeed it was brilliant. The only thing that dulls the experience a bit is the crawling humiliation that comes over you when you remember that the people who actually hold power over us are really this venal and stupid.

I loved this movie. Largely, though, I'm PISSED OFF at an incidence of parallel thinking; I came up with and used the Marie Antoinette / "let them eat cock" line myself in a pilot teleplay that I wrote. I have to delete it, now, because the rule in comedy is that if someone more famous than you uses the same joke, you have to lose yours.

So I don't care how great his movie is. Sucks to his limey asmar.

yawn. this was a boring movie. don't believe the hype.