The Ides of March Reviews

Our Review

Dirty politics never looked so good

Nick Pearson, MovieFix

On paper, The Ides of March seems to tread the same ground as the 1998 John Travolta film Primary Colors. A young, idealistic campaign worker becomes disenchanted with the corrupt internal politics of an election. There's the charismatic but flawed candidate, the thoroughly unpleasant advisors and the secrets that threaten to derail the campaign.

But while the movies aren't so different plotwise, The Ides of March is much better than its predecessor.

Based on the Broadway hit Farragut North, Ides tells the story of Stephen Meyers (Ryan Gosling), the passionate junior campaign manager of presidential frontrunner Mike Morris (George Clooney). After starting a fling with a 20-year-old intern (Evan Rachel Wood) and ill-advisedly meeting his opponent's chief advisor (Paul Giamatti), Meyers finds himself thoroughly compromised.

This is George Clooney's fourth film as director, after establishing serious cred with Goodnight and Good Luck. His influence is subtle but effective, especially for a film reliant on its solid script and superb cast.

Clooney gives a fairly pedestrian performance for most of the film, until a scene in the third act shows him pulling out the stops. For a brief few minutes he shows a side we haven't seen in any of his earlier movies, and it is startling and captivating.

Also good are the almost equally odious rival campaign managers, Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Paul Giamatti. Jeffrey Wright also makes the most of a very small role, as does Marisa Tomei. Ryan Gosling's lead role caps off a great year after other stellar performances in Crazy, Stupid Love and Drive.

Clooney's father unsuccessfully ran for Congress in 2004 in a district across the river from Cincinnati, Ohio, where most of this film is set. It's easy to see how the impact of this affected Clooney's take on the corrosive world of politics.

The Ides of March may be a disenchanting look at the democratic process, but it's an engaging one as well.

Your Reviews

Polemic

Starts promisingly, and indeed the first two thirds of the movie offer some nuanced acting and intelligent scripting that takes you back to the best of Sorkin and The West Wing. Then the writers seem to lose their nerve: "wait, nuance for a US audience? What were we thinking?!" As a result the final act, after a ridiculous scene where both Clooney and Gosling struggle to project the kind of understated menace that's second nature to any half-decent British actor, is laboured, banal and predictable. Several times you find yourself asking "okay, I get it, is it over now?" only to find the writers and director have decided to reiterate their tired homily - which pretty much distills down to "nobody's perfect" - yet again. If only they'd stopped while they were ahead. Or kept going the same way. Nonetheless there's more good than bad in this... in fact ironically it's the strength of the first two acts which makes the weak Hollywood style morality tale ending so glaringly obvious. The Curate's egg, in other words...

Man from La Newtown

What a load of rehashed garbage. All been done before. I noticed patrons asleep during this slow boring melodrama. Would only recommend to those i dislike.

Goldilocks

Loved it! the good guys are the bad guys and the bad guys are the good guys. All the characters initially seem a bit shallow but by midway through the movie they have a depth and complexity which makes the movie fly. Gosling of course is the latest wunderkind and he does not disappoint but there are so many names so well cast. George cluney is even good!

Finn

Finally, a movie written and directed by someone with a brain. Intelligent moviegoers should definitely go and see this quiet feat of movie mastery. Clooney, Giamatti, Hoffman, Gosling - the cast is as good as it gets. It is probably one of the top five films out this year.

matthew

George Clooney gets better with every film he stars and directs and this one is enthralling. a film for discerning adult film goers.

Juanita Curtis

An engrossing look at the world of American politics with excellent performances by all the cast especially Ryan Gosling.

Joanne

Great movie. Throughly enjoyed it. Disappointed it actually finished. Would have like to see Goslings character make a statement during his interview at the end of the movie, but it does leave you guessing if he would have spilled the beans. But I doubt he would have.

Add a review

My Rating

Name

Movie Buzz

Last:

24 hours

7 days

The most anticipated movies on MovieFix

Biggest Movers

What is Movie Buzz?

MovieBuzz rates which movies are trending within the MovieFIX community.

You can choose if you "Want to see" or are "Not Interested" in seeing the movie on the Homepage trailer player, or in the Movie Information page. After 20 votes, we tally these scores and create a percentage of how many people "Want to see" that movie.

We then take these scores and display the highest percentages in MovieBuzz. MovieBuzz only features movies from their trailer release to two weeks after they have released in cinemas. You can see the rankings on a 24 hour or a 7 day basis (use the radio buttons near the title to switch views).