The Ides of March
Political commentary in movies is about as original as an indestructible killer terrorizing horny teenagers; I’ll let other people decide which is scarier. In quotes and interviews, George Clooney has made plain his political views in real life, but with “The Ides of March,” the “ER” heartthrob-turned-film director/writer/star takes aim at a political landscape where it doesn’t matter which side of the spectrum you land– you’re gonna get burned either way.
In his fourth film as director, following “Confessions of a Dangerous Mind,” “Good Night, and Good Luck.,” and “Leatherheads,” Clooney decided to adapt the 2008 play, “Farragut North” by Beau Willimon about a week in the life of the Democratic Presidential campaign of one Mike Morris. The Ohio primary is just around the corner for Morris and his rival for the Democratic nomination for President, and it’s a close race as we get an inside peak at the men behind the curtain, as it were, for Morris’s run. The main point man in the film is Stephen Meyers (Ryan Gosling), Morris’s press secretary, and still young enough in politics to have a certain level of idealism. Or does he? When a series of events, from an ill-advised meeting with the rival’s campaign manager (the superb Paul Giamatti) to an affair with an intern (the electric, seductive Evan Rachel Wood), forces him to do major damage control to keep Morris on track for the win in Ohio, we get a window into Stephen’s cut-throat mindset that shows him perfect for this sort of political theatre for years to come.
Gone is the fun, screwball comedy of Clooney’s underrated “Leatherheads,” and the playful surrealism of “Confessions of a Dangerous Mind.” Clooney is back to the objective, passionate political rabble-rousing of his 2005 Best Picture nominee, “Good Night, and Good Luck.,” and he doesn’t pull any punches, whether you’re talking about the biting screenplay he co-wrote with Willimson and his producing partner, Grant Heslov, or his superlative performance as Morris, who looks like the genuine article as a political game-changer, but has the same faults, and weaknesses for political reality as anyone else. He and Gosling circle around one another like wolves looking for the right moment to strike in a brilliant, chilly exchange in a restaurant kitchen. Their intensity is only matched on-screen by Giamatti and the excellent Philip Seymour Hoffman, who has been around the game for a long time before becoming Morris’s campaign manager, and understands that trust is the only trait that counts in politics. Of course, honesty is the last thing we expect in campaign politics, and Clooney doesn’t sugarcoat that reality. Rather, he faces it straight on, and challenges us to rise above it. His movie will get under your skin.
