Strange Hate

Anthony Lane in The New Yorker has the only negative review of In The Loop I've been able to find:

Should satire really seek to match the intolerance of its leading monsters? For the makers of “In the Loop,” everyone in politics is either a beast or a dithering dolt, there is no basis for public service other than the foaming rage for power, and anyone who dares to dream otherwise—anyone who enjoys “The West Wing,” for example—is the most credulous mug of all.

Should satire do this? If it does it well, sure. It's possible to be too cynical (I suppose), but it ain't what you do it's the way that you do it. There weren't too many truly admirable characters in Dr. Strangelove, but did that stop it from being one of the best cinematic satires ever?

(On the other hand, one of West Wing's problems was the surfeit of positive characters--their only fault is an excess of nobility, which, gosh darnit, sometimes leads them astray because they're trying so hard to improve America that they lose sight of the little things.)