Anticipating Election Season with The Ides of March

The Ides of March is directed by some actor named George Clooney, and I’ll say this now, it will be good.  In all likelihood, it will be very good but still may disappoint me because it didn’t actually meet my lofty expectations for it.

Like many movies that I expect to enjoy, this one has a solid cast featuring the Oscar nominated and/or winning Phillip Seymour Hoffman (Capote), Marisa Tomei (My Cousin Vinny), Paul Giamatti (Cinderella Man), and of course, George Clooney.  Even better, none of these people are the protagonist of the film, that character is played by Ryan Gosling, hot off his recent successful performances in Drive and Crazy, Stupid, Love.  

The story follows Gosling who plays a political campaign manager/strategist as he works for George Clooney in an effort to win a primary.  Gosling is successful, young, and has a bright future in politics and has been groomed by his mentor, Phillip Seymor Hoffman.  Giamatti is the rival politician’s campaign manager, and Marissa Tomei plays a journalist covering the primary.

You may ask, “Matt,” or “Brickell,” if you know me as such, “How do you know about all these roles, its as if you’ve seen the movie!” Well I haven’t, I just went about acquiring the play its based on, Farragut North because apparently I am not one who waits patiently.  

No matter how good a cast a movie has, a terrible script or source material can sink the film, but it’s the play that may most excite me for The Ides of March, it was great; spartan, simple, and to the point.  It didn’t have a sweeping cast of characters, or require large intricate set pieces. Stage direction was minimal and dialogue was profuse and meant to be overlapping.  If the movie stays close to it, it should be a fast paced, tightly written movie based on character relationships rather than action sequences.  Given the play was only two acts, however, I won’t be surprised if the film changes the beginning, middle, or end in order to lengthen the film or broaden the movies appeal.

The trailer is well cut, which isn’t always indicative of a great film, but it at least means there is some good footage in there somewhere.  Hopefully you’ll be like me and spend a few bucks on some quality entertainment this weekend.

Matt Brickell is a senior writer and has a fascination with backroom politics and manipulation and hopes for some good pointers from this film.