10 Underrated Comedy Performances In Film
6. Paul Higgins - In The Loop (2009)
“SHUT IT, LOVE ACTUALLY,” screams Jamie McDonald to a soft-spoken advisor. “YOU WANT ME TO HOLE PUNCH YOUR FACE?!”
Armando Iannucci’s movie spin-off to his immensely popular TV satire The Thick of It introduced us to a host of characters, every one an expert in the art of subtle intimidation and unsubtle insult, but none more so than Paul Higgins’ criminally unsung press officer Jamie McDonald. Often overlooked in favour of Peter Capaldi’s Malcolm Tucker, Jamie is arguably even brasher, even fiercer, even angrier. He is every bit “the crossest man in Scotland,” as an under-fire MP dubs him.
Better known for playing high ranking police officers and corrupt officials Higgins, with his diminutive, lean frame and thick Lanarkshire accent, is the perfect vessel for this snarling, rancorous taskmaster. After one character calls him a “cro-magnon Scottish dwarf,” Jamie’s anger flares, subsides just as quickly as he takes a phone call with impeccable politeness, then instantly returns to ire and fury. It’s masterful stuff.
Stand-Out Moment: Being distracted by opera music during a pivotal discovery. “It’s just vowels! Subsidised f*cking foreign vowels!”