The Ides Of March

The Ides Of March is a political drama directed by George Clooney and starring Clooney as a man running for President of the United States. Ryan Gosling his his idealistic deputy campaign manager who learns some startling secrets about the candidate.

I wanted more from The Ides Of March that it was capable of delivering. I felt that it's central message, politics corrupts, was not quite a big revelation. I thought it unrealistic that an experienced political hack, working on a presidential campaign could be so naive about what goes on during a campaign. After all, Presidential campaigns last years now. The movie takes place in March of the primary season, that means the Clooney character has been running for office for at least 12 months and probably longer yet the Ryan Gosling character still views everything through rose colored glasses.That alone cause the film to lose what impact it could have had.

The Ides of March has some strong qualities. Once again Clooney shows he can deliver a solid, well directed film. The performance are strong, especially Philip Seymour Hoffman and Paul Giamatti in supporting roles as long term politicos and the film does capture the sense of a campaign as it slogs through a cold and bitter Ohio winter. But overall, it's tale of innocence loss did not add up to much or strike me as too realistic. I lost any idealism I had about politician's thirty years ago, so how did this astute campaign manager keep his?

Rating - The Ides of March **1/2 stars