Review of The Ides of March (2011) by Tomas T — 12 May 2012

The Ides of March plunges into the US political scene which hides an ugly reality below a picture perfect surface.

The famous actor George Clooney performs a double act in The Ides of March as the director and acts as the presidential candidate Mike Morris. Mr. Clooney might be more renown for his acting than directing, but this political drama indicates that he has potential to succeed in both fields. The Ides of March is a refreshing change from the abundant political thrillers that seem to be churned out of Hollywood at steady pace. Instead of agents and assassinations, the story follows a young campaign worker Stephen Meyers (Ryan Gosling) rallying for the democratic candidate Mike Morris, as he tries to find his way through the two-faced and dirty political environment.

Firstly, hats off for Clooney in choosing a very fitting cast for the film. Ryan Gosling handles well for the role of idealistic and somewhat naive campaign worker while the veteran campaign workers of Democratic and Republican campaigns - Philip Seymour Hoffman for democratic party and Paul Giamatti for the Republicans - are just terrific! Most of the film is carried ahead in intense conversations between these three representatives. These conversations alone keep the film interesting through the whole running time and it is just exhilarating to see a modern day Hollywood political drama that does not need to resort to explosions and machine guns to keep the viewer engaged.