How well do we know our politicians? Hopefully well enough, since we trust them with our nation's future. Will they keep their promises to their voters? Or are they lying through their television-friendly white teeth? It's not a complete shocker that as much as we do know about them can be equal to what remains in the dark about them. George Clooney, who himself is very involved in government matters, directs and stars in The Ides of March, a twisty political drama that pulls back the voting booth curtain on the dirty secrets and dealings that can occur on the campaign trail.
Stephen Meyers (Ryan Gosling) is a young, hot-shot campaign manager for Governor Mike Morris (George Clooney). When the race for the Presidency's Democratic nomination brings the group to Ohio, they realize that how well they do there could make or break Morris's chances at winning the nomination. When the opposing Democratic hopeful's campaign manager Tom Duffy(Paul Giamatti) witnesses Meyers skills, Tom encourages him to switch over to his side. When Meyers neglects to notify his boss Paul Zara (Philip Seymour Hoffman) about the meeting, Paul fires him. Fueled with anger, Meyers plans to join Duffy and use a career-damaging secret of Governor Morris against him.
The film's cast emanates the heated tension that causes opposing sets of morals to ignite sparks on the campaign trail. Ryan Gosling fluently synthesizes suave with political smarts. He's a flirtatious guy who knows how to work a girl as well as he works a campaign. His character, like anyone, easily gives in to flattery, which is his undoing and sets the film's events into ominous action. George Clooney brings his passionate political attitudes to his role, and it's conclusively visible that he's incorporating his love of these ideals in the film. His character almost mirrors how he is in reality. We basically see two Clooney's in the film: Clooney the actor, and Clooney the politician.
Paul Giamatti is the essence of an unfair political game as the manipulative and deceitful Tom Duffy. Philip Seymour Hoffman is entirely different from Duffy as Meyers's boss who values loyalty over everything else. The two are as opposite as Republicans are to Democrats. The youthful and gorgeous Evan Rachel Wood is impressive as a campaign intern who catches Gosling's eye. She is thrown into a tough adult world when a life-altering secret of her's is revealed; and her playfulness turns to desperation as quickly as an undecided voter's choice in an election. And Marisa Tomei does a lot with a little as the pesky New York Times reporter who always gets the scoop.
Clooney is certainly not an outsider to political cinema. He has dabbled in it twice back in 2005 when he starred in Syriana and Good Night, and Good Luck, the latter of which he also directed, and received awards and nominations for both projects. It doesn't matter if you agree or disagree with his political views. You have to appreciate his fervor for politics and film and his gift for uniting them into sharp, stimulating stories.
The screenplay by George Clooney, Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon is based on the latter's 2008 play Farragut North. The first half hour of the film is mainly for the fleshing-out of what Clooney's role is as a candidate, his policies and the current status of his campaign. So the movie takes some time to get started because of that. But when a major plot revelation about one of the character's is exposed, the movie spikes to life. It becomes a web of scandal, blackmail, corruption and revenge, where some people aren't who them seem to be. Political films, mercifully, tend to leave out all of the tiresome mudslinging between candidates that we watch on television. The Ides of March spares us all of that as well, and serves us an intelligently engaging story. It has my vote.
Final grade: A-
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