Review: 'The Ides of March'

Politics may indeed make strange bedfellows, but in the case of The Ides of March, it also makes for one terrifically entertaining film. Bravos for the man of many hats, George Clooney, for reminding us, yet again, that he delivers the goods. 

The genre of the American political thriller has a long, distinguished pedigree, perhaps reaching its peak in The Manchurian Candidate (the original, please!). But we can't forget Warren Beatty’s The Parallax View, Robert Redford’s The Candidate and a bit farther afield, such classics as Seven Days in May, Fail Safe and, of course, All the President’s Men. Each of these films has used Washington, DC as a venue for varying degrees of patriotism, scandal and pending nuclear catastrophe.

We are on safer but very timely ground with Ides, and like Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, Clooney is setting his sights on questions of honor and personal loyalty versus ambition, even when the characters here are often personally skirting the issues of morality both in and out of the bedroom.

Adapting Ides from the play Farragut North, Clooney as co-writer, director, producer and star, is no stranger to politics, appearing often on talk shows and interviews to promote and support his own liberal agenda. To his credit, he does not present his character as flawless. 

Portraying Pennsylvania governor and Democratic presidential hopeful Mike Morris in an upcoming Ohio primary, the story is as ripped from the front-page headlines as you can get, and Clooney imbues this candidate with conviction and passion at every turn.   

If after Watergate, Lewinsky-gate, ad infinitum, we are all by now more than a bit cynical at the jabberings of White House hopefuls, it is to Clooney’s credit that he draws us instantly into this take on the promise versus the reality of changing our country for the better.

In a star-studded cast, there’s not a weak link to be found. Let’s start with Ryan Gosling, who seems to be everywhere in every film. In Ides as Morris’ rising campaign staffer, Stephen Myers, Gosling is wholly dedicated to making sure his candidate is swept into office, and, though it's never spoken, that he get a prime spot in his administration.   

Stephen’s boss is Paul Zara, in yet another remarkable performance by Philip Seymour Hoffman. As he was in the current Moneyball, Hoffman channels every role he plays without a seam showing. When he chews out Gosling’s character with, “It’s not what you said, it’s what you DID,” few in the audience will not shudder with the vehemence and wrath of his conviction and fury. As in any complex character-driven story, Paul is not necessarily all that he seems and the plot's twists and turns keep coming with often hold-your-breath suspense. 

Marisa Tomei and Paul Giamatti add convincing scenes to the ensemble cast.

Evan Rachel Wood as intern Molly Stearns is effectively sweet and touching and adds the requisite female heat to the brew while providing a sobering reminder to all that the human heart is always vulnerable when ambition trumps love. 

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Jeff Klayman is an award-winning playwright whose works have been produced in New York, Los Angeles and London. He also wrote the screenplay for the independent film Adios, Ernesto, directed by Mervyn Willis.