It is a spin-off from Iannucci's television series The Thick of It (2005–12), and satirises British-American politics, in particular the invasion of Iraq.

At a time when the United Kingdom and the United States are contemplating military intervention in the Middle East, the UK Minister for International Development, Simon Foster, unintentionally states during an interview on BBC Radio 4's Today programme that war in the region is "unforeseeable".

The Prime Minister's Director of Communications, Malcolm Tucker, castigates Simon and warns him to toe the line.

Back in Washington, DC, hawkish US Assistant Secretary of State for Policy, Linton Barwick, accidentally references a secret war committee during the Foreign Office meeting; Karen and Liza deduce that it is named the Future Planning Committee.

Karen teams up with Lieutenant General George Miller, who opposes the war because he believes the US has an insufficient number of troops available, and invites Simon to the upcoming meeting of the Future Planning Committee to "internationalise the dissent".

Toby thoughtlessly leaks the existence of the committee to a friend at CNN, and then meets up with Liza, who he knows from university, at a bar, and they end up sleeping together.

Suzy finds out about Toby's one-night stand with Liza and breaks up with him, but as he is moving out of their apartment, he leaves her a copy of PWPPIP, asking her to leak it; she chastises him for not doing it himself.

A new Minister for International Development is appointed, with her own special advisor, and Simon is left to deal with his constituents in Northampton.

Chlumsky and Woods went on to portray characters similar to the ones they played in the film in Iannucci's American television series Veep (2012–19).

"[7] In an article for The Guardian, Iannucci wrote: At least two people told me that Condoleezza Rice was a bit rubbish.

Time Out London noted that the filmmaking style they observed during a set visit was very similar to that employed when filming The Thick of It: The similarities are everywhere, down to the docu-style, handheld camerawork evident on the monitors (it's the same director of photography) and the anti-West Wing production design that eliminates all notions of political glamour.

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 94% based on reviews from 179 critics, with an average score of 7.8/10; the site summarizes: "In the Loop is an uncommonly funny political satire that blends Dr. Strangelove with Spinal Tap for the Iraq war era.

[21] Damon Wise of The Times gave the film five stars out of five and stated: "It's hard to settle on a standout element because it's all so outstanding, from the performances to the one-liners to the plot.

"[22] David D'Arcy of Screen International was complimentary, but noted that the release of the film may have been poorly timed, given the new presidency of Barack Obama, and said that "its exuberant, boundless cynicism will test the demand for political satire in an Obama-infatuated America.