In the Loop , which was picked up for U.S. release by IFC at
Sundance, seemed tailor-made for easy summations: "It's The
Office meets The West Wing," the early-screening set said, along
with raving endorsements about how funny In the Loop actually
was. And the latter part of that was proven right when I saw In
the Loop at Sundance; it's achingly, wrenchingly, dizzyingly
funny, with a bleak, bitter sense of humor that makes each laugh
feel like the people behind In the Loop are not so much tickling
your funny bone as they are going at it with an ice pick.  And
yes, In the Loop has the handheld-yet-slightly-too-steady
camerawork of The Office, where the comedy of uncomfortable
silence builds and builds as the camera lingers and stays on,
and it also has the petty rivalries and silly squabbles of The
Office; it seems that whether you're selling paper or pushing
it, work is work. And In the Loop also has the insider-y, rushed
feeling of The West Wing, where many scenes are done as a walk-
and-talk and we're remind