The Ides Of March

There are a lot of directions this movie could have taken as a political drama.  It could have explored the climate of modern day politics and how even the most sincere, straightforward candidate is forced to continually make compromises until they no longer recognize themselves.  It could have focused on the campaign managers, for whom the candidate and the platform hardly even matter as anything other than leverage to win votes.  Or it could have followed the disillusionment of a seasoned campaign manager, who has finally found a candidate he believes in, only to discover he is as black hearted as the rest of them.  Any of these story lines could have pulled us in to The Ides of March, and delivered us an emotional, thoughtful film.  Instead we get all three.

Unfortunately, in some ways this spreads the focus of the film too thin.  We have a young political up and comer (Ryan Gosling), who thinks he can finally leave the usual dirty dealing behind because he has found a truly deserving candidate to lift into office, only to find himself caught in a maelstrom of double crosses and cover ups.  We have a candidate (George Clooney who also directed) learning that the compromises required to win are slowly chipping away at every principle he promised to stand on.  We have two campaign managers (Philip Seymour Hoffman and Paul Giamatti) who care nothing for the truth, or ethics, or the people trampled underfoot on the race for the win.  Each and every character arc is riveting, and unfortunately under explored.  There is so much drama just ripe for the picking here in each man's personal struggle with morality (or lack there of) and the eternal question of the ends justifying the means - if you do whatever it takes just to win, can you ever regain your sense of right and wrong?


This movie could have easily plumbed these depths and been twice as long, and just as riveting.  Unfortunately, the story line itself was entirely predictable, and severely undercut the skill of the cast (seriously - phenomenal cast) as well as the richness of the characters.  I wish the script had served the people involved (both real and fictional) a little better, because this would have been an exceptional vehicle for discussion on power, ambition, loyalty and black vs white.  Instead we are shown no surprises, taught no lessons, and everyone is painted the same shade of gray.


Worth seeing for the tremendous cast and fine acting, this is a case of a fine movie that nonetheless disappoints because it could have been great.

The Ides Of March 1hr 41 min R