‘Ides of March’ – Tired of politics yet?

George Clooney’s ‘Ides of March’ is supposed to be apolitical thriller. But, in order to be that, it must be thrilling to beginwith. More a stump speech for Clooney’s obvious political views, ‘The Ides ofMarch’, while filled with solid performances, simply fails to live up to what apolitical thriller should be. If you want a taunt political thriller, rent ‘TheCandidate’ the 1972 film with Robert Redford.

While most of ‘The Ides of March’ is believable and relevantto what today’s Democratic Party believes, what is not believable is the sheargullibility of campaign strategist Stephen Meyers (Ryan Gosling, whom I likemore and more with each film he does). Working for Governor Mike Morris (GeorgeClooney) who is running for the Democratic Primary Presidential Ticket, Meyer’sjob is to get his boss elected. He supplies Morris with tag lines and positionpieces that help place him on the brink of victory. Tags like ‘My religion isthe Constitution of the United States of America’, as well as positioning thatawards each college student with free tuition if they provide two years ofpublic service; winning thoughts and policies, even by today standards. WhereClooney as Director goes wrong though; Meyers actually believes the lines hecreates. He actually believes in his candidate and places all of his faith inhim.

Gosling plays Meyer with a smart and very cool attitude. Heis the type that has breezed through life on his good look and charms. He knowspeople, he understands them and is very good at manipulating them; so why is itthat he gets so manipulated in the film? It just doesn’t fit or make sense. Heis lead around and obviously so, by Paul Philip (Philip Seymour Hoffman), thecampaign manager for Morris who worries that Meyer will take his job. Thismanipulation, coupled with some bad choices (also uncharacteristic) toss Meyersin the flames of politics at its worst (or what we feel to be normal politics).

Ryan Gosling continues to impress as an actor – he hasimproved with each performance. While he does not disappoint here, he isweighed down by disappointing material. But, the good news, Gosling is able tomake a very doe-eyed idealist, very believable; I still think he was fantasticin the much better thriller ‘Drive’ (which if you haven’t seen yet, what areyou waiting for?). George Clooney is as good as always, looking Presidentialand confident, even when he becomes wrapped up in a scandal of his own causing.As a Director, Clooney has really come to age and has proven himself verycapable. However, as a screenwriter (he co-wrote the script with Grant Heslov,based on a play by Beau Willimon), Clooney falls into the trap of pushing hisown personal political agenda rather than that of the character.  We are treated to one too many sound bitesthat seem to have cascaded from the Democratic Party in a season when politicaloffices of both parties are extremely split. It would have been tighter andbetter to focus on the scandal, what it does to the people surrounding it andwhat it does to the country (potentially).

Clooney’s constant pouring of his political beliefs becomeheavy handed by the end of the film; it is the same reason that ‘Lions forLambs’, Robert Redford’s political thriller, failed. They chose to focus toomuch on the political message rather than the situation that made the storythrilling. By the end of both films, I was ready for them to be done with them!You should leave a film energized and moved, one way or the other; this 2 ½star effort left me running for the door!