A long time ago, none other than Napoleon Bonaparte said “In politics stupidity is not a handicap”. Fast forward to today and, well, those words still ring true. In 2005, Armando Iannucci – the man behind such shows as I’m Alan Partridge and The Day Today, decided to poke his big stick o’ fun in the face of politics. What appeared on our TV screens was the satirical wonder known as The Thick of It. In The Loop then is, essentially, a big screen outing of that show.

MP Simon Foster (Tom Hollander) is having a bad day. During a radio interview he says that ‘war is unforeseeable’; it’s not quite what he meant, but before you can say ‘political hot potato’, his words are picked up by the media and plastered everywhere.

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In a speedy attempt at damage limitation, the foul-mouthed king of spin Malcolm Tucker (Peter Capaldi) is called in to diffuse the situation. Unfortunately for everyone, it appears that this particular faux pas snowball is growing bigger than anyone could have anticipated, and way out of control. So much so that a new war seems almost inevitable. Can a visit to the States by Foster and his team repair any of the damage done?

To all intent and purposes, a film about politics should not work. The actors involved are far from glamorous, the locales hardly breathtaking, there’s not a sniff of a stunt to be seen and there’s not a hint of a spy story anywhere. And yet you’d be hard pushed to find a more entertaining and laugh out loud film all year.

Iannucci has simply kept to the winning formula of the show and extended it slightly – both in length and locations. Foster, joined by his sidekick Toby (played by Chris Addison, who, rather confusingly was called Olly in the TV show) fly to Washington DC to try and play down his remarks. It’s there where James Gandolfini pops up as General Miller. Being the only big Hollywood name in the film, it would have been easy for him to throw his considerable acting weight around; instead, he seamlessly embraces Iannucci’s improvisational style and, to his credit, simply goes with the flow.

The fact the writing team behind the show is on board is also a major factor. The dialogue is Stanley knife sharp and just as cutting. The perfect mouthpiece for this humour is the god of put-downs Malcolm Tucker. Peter Capaldi taps into something inherently evil when he delivers the verbal equivalent of a heavyweight body blow – there’s just no coming back from a thing like that.

Tom Hollander does well as the newbie of the team, taking on a more youthful persona of the show’s original political boob Hugh Abbot (played so brilliantly by the now disgraced Chris Langham). There’s also a nice little cameo for Steve Coogan, which only adds to the film’s already impressive laugh quota.

Although at first it does seem wrong, watching a TV comedy on the big screen, this sensation is soon replaced with a prolonged pain in your chest area – no, not a heart attack, that’s the rare condition known as having your ribs tickled. It will happen a lot throughout the film, so you had better get used to it.

If you think Satire is an Indian musical instrument, then this film is probably not for you. For the rest of you, the words ‘must’ and ‘see’, are really all you need to know.