Movie: The Ides Of March

• Director: George Clooney
• Release Date: October 2011
• Writers: George Clooney, Grant Heslov
• Run Time: 101
• Genre: Drama

Tagline: The Ides Of March

Review: George Clooney is running for President. Well, I mean, in The Ides of March, as Governor Mike Morris, hes running for the Democratic Presidential nomination. Hes the good guy and his opponent is the bad guy. Because thats how it is supposed to be, right? The opponents campaign manager is played by the ever shady Paul Giamatti, while Morris campaign is championed by the young, handsome idealistic Stephen, played by Ryan Gosling.

This is about politics, the games people play to get ahead, and the types of people who get played, thats the interesting part. The refreshing part, is that this isnt about election night and who is going to win and who is going to lose. A few poll numbers are rattled off, but its mostly about what is going to happen to our heroes, or anti heroes, and what are they going to do in response. When you look like Clooney and Gosling, its hard not to be the hero, but remember, this is politics and nobody is really a hero in that mess.

People make mistakes. I enjoyed following Stephen as he struggled internally with his path forward. He believes in the good of the Governor. Hes smart and passionate and makes a good campaign manager. His mistakes seem minor and understandable. The problem is, hes 30. Hes at the in between age, where hes half young college student ready to take over the world and half experienced cynic. Those are two very combative halves and when they come at odds within him, the character takes some shocking and drastic turns.

The few references to actual political gaffes are obvious and just done for comic relief. All the clever lines are stolen by Giamatti, who, I am predicting, will come away with the only acting nomination for the film. Although, the brilliant character work thats done by everybody, and is what makes The Ides of March so intriguing.