Philip Seymour Hoffman Fest: The Ides of March

2011 political war movie

Rating: 15/20 (Jen: 16/20)

Plot: Governor Morris is making a run for the presidency and has a good chance to win because of his hair, the bone structure of his face, and his smile. Stephen Meyers is one of his aides helping him run a clean campaign, but things hit a snag in Ohio with a good old-fashioned scandal. Meyers works to save the campaign and then his career.

Clooney co-stars in this film that he directed and helped write, but he's not Sam Mraovich and knows what he's doing. I don't have a lot of interest in politics, even when things get this dirty, but this has enough twists and turns and suspense to keep you interested. It's really about the performances. Clooney's Clooney, but this really isn't his story anyway. Ryan Gosling is quite the charmer, idealistic with a smidge of shadiness that makes everything that happens later in this film completely believable. Evan Rachel Wood's the center of scandalous attention and almost manages to make it seem like it's all worth it, and Marisa Tomei plays a reporter. Gregory Itzin, who I know from a smarmy and greasy performance on 24, plays another slimy guy here. There's no way this guy would make it as a politician because his face just screams "Don't trust me!" And Philip Seymour Hoffman and Paul Giamatti are dueling campaign managers who really needed more screen time together in this thing. That would have been fun. It's a great cast that easily makes this worth the time even though the story feels derivative and by-the-book. But the story is intriguing, and I like how the characters all end up a little incomplete with pasts that are only hinted at and not fully developed and futures that are completely up in the air. The movie's also got a great ending.