by Brian Kesler
'The Ides of March' is a very political film. It involves a lot of dialogue about a lot of hot button political issues, and often pronounces how it feels about them, such as gay marriage, the death penalty, universal health care, and so on. The film truly believes in the answers it provides, and sometimes gives answers just to prove a point. And yet, as the plot thickens, we realize that although these political figures stand for great things, they are not great people. They are manipulative, deceitful, accepting deals and bribes and succumbing to black mail ... anything to win the primaries. Therefore, the film has either one of two agendas: A - That we cannot trust politicians, no matter what views they have or how many promises they make. Or B - The end justifies the means.
Ryan Gosling plays Stephen Meyers, a campaign staffer for Mike Morris, the morally and ethically perfect Presidential Candidate. Meyers is confident the campaign will be a success. He boasts to his campaign manager, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, and a reporter for the New York Times, Marisa Tomei. Nothing can go wrong. Of course, that's the audience's cue to start guessing what will go wrong. It's hard to tell you anything that happens next without giving too much away. All I'll say is that Paul Giamatti plays a rival campaign manager trying to steal Meyers away, and Evan Rachel Wood plays a love interest for Gosling and gets herself into some trouble.
The film is tightly scripted, no doubt due to the fact that it's based on a stage play. There is not a single scene that doesn't hold importance and weight, and that is what gives the film such wonderful tension. I wish all screenwriters would think like playwrites, we'd have an abundance of good movies were that the case. Unfortunately, the film is so tightly wound that it forgets about a very important character: Mike Morris, the Presidential Candidate played by Clooney himself. Morris is seen as a perfect man, through and through. In every way. He's like a male, political Mary Poppins, without the conceitedness or hotheadedness, which makes him even more perfect. Even when he's not in debates, he is so unfailingly even-tempered and ethically upright. He is built up as a man with no flaws, so when his one flaw is finally revealed, it is almost not believable. I'm guessing writer Beau Willimon did this consciously in order to shock us with the plot twist. Good plot twist. Not buying it.
There are incredible performances here, provided by the unstoppable force that is Ryan Gosling, the entrancing Seymour Hoffman and Paul Giamatti, the downplayed Evan Rachel Wood, and the quick-witted Marisa Tomei. What a wonderful and talented list of players. That alone makes the film worth a trip to the theater. The pacing is pristine as well, in terms of editing and direction. It's intriguing to see how the plot slowly unwinds and eventually gets out of control. The film is not as absorbing or important as Clooney's 'Good Night and Good Luck,' and is missing the gorgeous black-and-white photography of that film, but it holds its own as a political thriller that manages to entertain, get across its political agenda, and make us stew over our own political affiliations. I believe the answer is A.
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