While the acting looks good on posters, sells tickets, and brings people in, the movie's every-evolving chess match of political dealings, secrets, twists, and double-crosses will keep you talking about it after you leave. Paul Giamatti pours his snake oil well, as does reporter-on-the-scene Marisa Tomei.
After watching him do little more than cross his arms and pout in Moneyball, it's nice to see the best blustering linguist in the business, Philip Seymour Hoffman, at least start a good rant or two. Gosling, who's having quite a year with this, Drive, and Crazy, Stupid, Love., carries the film even though Clooney is the big name and no slouch himself as the tacturn Presidential candidate. The decorated cast all bring their A-game. The Ides of March, based on Beau Willimon's 2008 play Farragut North and adapted by Clooney and his producing partner Grant Heslov, is an acting showcase across the board. Then, before you know it, he ends up in bed with a connected intern, Molly (Evan Rachel Wood), whose name-tag might as well real "Trouble." The sound you hear is the toilet beginning to swirl and that smell is the muck our naive true believer Stephen starts to find himself in. Even in refusal, Myers's confidence is shaken and word of the meeting starts to leak. With Ohio's delegates and those of needed states after Ohio teetering in the balance, Duffy boldly arranges a secret meeting with Myers and goes so far as to ask him to switch sides and allegiances. Leading the opponent's charge is Zara's rival campaign manager, Tom Duffy (Oscar nominee Paul Giamatti). They are the trusted point men for Governor Mike Morris's bid for the Democratic nomination for President.Ĭlooney himself plays Morris as the liberal and environmental optimist in comparison to his bible-beating opponent that he's slightly ahead of in Ohio primary polls with a week to go. Myers works as the Junior Campaign Manager under Senior Campaign Manager, Paul Zara (Academy Award winner Philip Seymour Hoffman). The Ides of March, with its title alluding to the fall of Caesar and Shakespeare, follows the work of straight-laced, fast-rising political strategist, Stephen Myers (Ryan Gosling). While he's got a long way to becoming the next Clint Eastwood or duplicating All the President's Men, George raises his game and comes through in creating an extremely interesting, tense, and well-acted political pot-boiler.
If you haven't heard or noticed, Clooney has been trying his hand at directing for the last nine years with four feature films to his credit: Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002), Good Night, and Good Luck (2005), Leatherheads (2008), and now The Ides of March which opened October 7th. From that list, you can see where George gets quite a few of his influences. Prominent on that list (one that's hard to argue with), Clooney calls 1976's All the President's Men a "perfect" film and part of his Top 5 with Network, Harold and Maude, Dr.
Recently during an interview for Parade magazine, he called the 12-year stretch from 1964 to 1976 "the greatest era in filmmaking by far" and listed his 100 favorite films from that time span. He oozes Cary Grant-level charisma and stardom matched with sharp and daring acting that has earned him five Academy Award nominations and one win. Leading man George Clooney has always fashioned himself a Hollywood throwback.
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