The Ides of March

Despite the exalted cast in this movie, don't be fooled. it is Ryan Gosling's movie, just like it has been his year in acting in general. This is both the movie's strength and its weakness. In order to give him a dilemma, the screenplay picks a rather hackneyed problem which detracts from all this stellar acting.

George Clooney directed it and he has no problem playing the charming, good looking Democratic governor, who is very reminiscent of JFK. This is all too true of his eye for the ladies as well, which leads into the dilemma at the heart of the movie. Ryan Gosling works for the candidate. He has a fleeting relationship with a young woman, whom it turns out has had an even more fleeting relationship with the Governor.

While he's involved with the young woman, he also gets caught in the cross fire between two more seasoned political veterans played by Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Paul Giametti. Both of them play fairly detestable characters. In fact, the Gosling character is the only one who isn't entrenched in the deep mud of the political world. This movie is his education about what he's let himself in for by choosing politics as his arena. And it's either get down in the mud and play with these old hands or leave. dvd

Most of the action takes place in Cincinnati Ohio because the Governor is running in the important Ohio primary for President. Everyone does a good job but if this was indeed the plot of the stage play, then I would have liked to seen it made less trite for the screenplay. There is nothing in here plot wise that you haven't been watching for decades.

Watch it now at The Ides of March