The Ides of March

THE IDES OF MARCH is the fourth film directed by George Clooney. Clooney also acts in the film, but only in what is at best a supporting role. Dominating the film is Ryan Gosling, who isn't really directed, but taken down the manipulative path that Clooney has constructed. For a political film, one based on a source material (in this case, a play), Clooney has a lot of interest as an outspoken liberal / activist himself. However, Clooney is no expert on the subject, and that shows. For a film about the corruption within political / presidential campaigns, IDES OF MARCH is rather timid, and sort of juvenile. That isn't to say that there isn't a lot of worthy material here, but its taken down a strange road. Clooney breaks his film into two parts. In the first, we are seduced by Mike Morris (Clooney), who is fighting for the nomination for democratic candidate. Morris is the biggest liberal I've ever seen on film, he's the perfect liberal. But in the second half, Gosling's campaign head Stephen is deterred from his love of Morris because of a silly misdemeanor of Morris' doing. Disappointingly, for a film with such intelligent political talk in the first half, Morris' mistake is blown out of proportion for the furthering of the story. Despite the wonderful talk in the first half, we are manipulated so that Clooney can have a second half. This second half is good in its own right, but it has been created from a false pretense, and is disjointed from the first half. The film has its problems, rooted in Clooney's actor-esque thinking that he could make a definitive political movie, but its entertaining despite its timidity.
The Ides of March: ★★★