Review of The Ides of March (2011) by Angie C — 24 May 2013

Now I was wondering whether to give this film 3 1/2 or 4 stars, but I decided to give it a higher rating as the positives do indeed outweigh the negatives, but it should be made clear that this is a low 4. The story is extremely interesting here, and although it is technically simple and it's message simple also, it really kept me interested throughout. And it's short, so it never really drags or overstays it's welcome.

The performances are the strongest part of the film, with Ryan Gosling giving a good performance and the same with Clooney, Hoffman and Giamatti, and Clooney's direction is good, but there is nothing outstanding here. It all works like clockwork, but there is nothing shining. It simply works.

There are a few problems I had with the film, one being that it some how felt like there was more to it than met the eye, but in actual fact it was quite simple- it did feel like they purposely over complicated things to cover up on certain aspects of the script. It was slightly odd. The only other problem I had, and this could just be down to being the least politically minded British person in the world, who struggles to understand American politics, but I did get confused between the different characters. "Wait. What's a Governor?" But that could just be my fault for being slightly uncultured in that area, but I do feel some explanation may have helped.

Overall, I found the film gripping, interesting and well paced, but some of the story lines felt overdrawn- even though it didn't exactly slow down the pace. It's hard to explain, but makes sense in my head, which is useful for everyone else. Obviously.