Movies: The Ides of March

Score: **** out of *****

Long Story Short: With a top-notch cast, The Ides of March is a compelling political drama. Youth and its idealism, in the form of new stars Gosling and Wood, go toe-to-toe with veteran stars like Clooney, Hoffman and Giamatti. While they may not all play nice with each other as characters, the audience can enjoy a script that takes these talented actors through political intrigue both minuscule and massive.

I had been looking forward to this movie since I first saw the trailer not long ago, but it took me a little while to finally see it. Sorry the review is coming so late. As usual, you can always rent it, Netflix it, downlo-, I mean... With such an odd array of films coming out this time of year, it was impossible for me to resist one with so many good actors and an interesting topic (presidential elections). The Ides of March was directed by George Clooney, and stars him, Ryan Gosling, Evan Rachel Wood, and many others.

The first part of the film introduces the Democratic primary for the presidential election of 20_ (it doesn't say when). The field is down to two nominees: Ted Pullman and Mike Morris (Clooney). Day-to-day operations are sampled, from Jr. Campaign Manager Meyers (Gosling) working with Morris on his speeches, to informal staff meetings. Meyers is a young but very savvy political aide, the second in command under veteran Paul Zara (Hoffman). Morris and Pullman are battling over the Ohio primary, which is likely to decide the nomination; after a debate there, Meyers is contacted by Pullman's manager, Tom Duffy (Giamatti).

After their tense meeting, Meyers meets a young Morris intern named Molly (Wood). They soon begin a quiet relationship, during which Meyers is horrified to discover a huge secret Molly is keeping. Back on the campaign, Pullman and Morris fight in secret for the support of Ohio senator Thompson; unfortunately, a reporter finds out about Meyers' unofficial meeting with Duffy, and threatens to reveal it unless details of the Thompson negotiations are given. Things continue to spiral downward from there, as Meyers' former honest, good intentions are put to the test when he finds himself in the middle of an ugly political fight.

While the script of the film is very good, it took the efforts of not only talented actors but ones with a strong presence to truly bring it to life. Gosling, as Morris' #2 campaign manager, is certainly the main character. He does a nice job, and shows the gradual change of his character, transformed by the political process, in a believable manner. He is charismatic, but I have to admit that the role was begging to be knocked out of the park, something he fell just short of, I think. Evan Rachel Wood does a very good job as well, a young, enthusiastic girl who is just in over her head; her performance creates the most emotional parts of the film. Clooney is, of course, a perfect choice to play a presidential candidate. However, he doesn't overdo it, and in fact his role is much smaller than I expected. Very, very well done by George.

The campaign managers for the dueling candidates are played by two actors who I've always put in sort of the same category anyway, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Paul Giamatti. Hoffman has the slightly bigger role, considering he's on Morris' team. He does a fantastic job as a pro who isn't exactly jaded, but so used to the slime of politics that it just rolls right off him. He's not a bad guy, but Hoffman's performance makes him an interesting, complex man. Giamatti plays a much more overtly sneaky, oily guy, a character that he seems well-suited to play (no offense meant, Paul). Giamatti is one of the film's biggest scene-stealers, drawing my attention to him consistently. Other minor roles include Marisa Tomei as the reporter, and she does a very good job with the role's combination of schmoozing and pushiness, and Jeffrey Wright as Senator Thompson in a few brief scenes.

The script, by Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon, along with Clooney's input, is great. Possibly many of you will see the twists and turns ahead of time, but I don't tend to see them so clearly. Either way, predicted ahead of time or not, I have to say that they are well-constructed and quite believable. And of course, the performances of the actors described above just hammer the impact of those events home in a way that an inferior cast never could. There aren't a whole lot of other aspects of the film to discuss. There is a little bit of humor, but it is by no means any kind of comedy. One aspect I was impressed with was the variety of sets; I have no idea how many were actually on location, but it gave an authentic feel of a campaign actually being out in the world and working at the ground level (one that I can remember is a secret meeting of Morris and his top campaign managers... in a barren, dull school rehearsal room).

***

I must give you fair warning: this is not exactly a feel-good movie. I felt rather depressed by the end; not by the quality of the movie, of course, but by the implications of its events. Sure, it's a fictional drama, but the basic ideas seemed like they could very well apply to today's world. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if worse things happened in the real political process. Enough of that gloomy talk, though. This is simply a very entertaining film driven by its creative script and fantastic cast. It's interesting to see some new faces (Gosling, Wood) almost as symbols of the rising stars in the industry, with their ups and downs, while the older vanguard (Clooney, Hoffman, Giamatti) still guides the whole thing along steadily. Not much else to say about it, other than that I highly recommend it.