The Ides of March (2011) Review

A lot of times, when I write a review, I attempt to not only give my opinion on a film, but also place myself in the perspective of multiple viewers. This way, I can easily make a recommendation for literally anybody reading my reviews. With this film, however, that would be pretty difficult to do. See, I feel that politics are always split in terms of perspectives. Some people believe that our U.S. government should be Democratic, letting the people have a bit more freedom, and many others are more on the Republican side, believing that our government would be more stable if it were more disciplinary. Hell, there's plenty of other sides for people to choose from beyond that! Therefore, films with political views will always receive some heat, so it's hard to say who will like this film and who won't. So, for this review of Ides of March, I'm going to attempt to  give my personal opinion.



Based off the play Farragut North, which was loosely based on the 2004 campaign of Howard Dean, the film follows the campaign of a supposedly fictional Democratic candidate named Mike Morris, played by George Clooney. He's attempting to get Ohio to vote for him in his campaign, and he's assisted by Stephen Myers, played by Ryan Gosling. Throughout the film, Stephen is constantly confronted with people trying to persuade him to do the wrong thing. Tom Duffy, played by Paul Giamatti, attempts to get him to leave Morris' campaign and join a Republican campaign. A reporter attempts to get a good story dealing with these campaigns out of Stephen and even blackmails him by saying that she'll post a story about how he met up with Duffy. But Stephen knows how to persevere through all of this, because unlike his manager who will only say what will get Morris elected, he will only establish a political view if it's what he truly believes in.


Whether or not I agree with the political views portrayed in this film is irrelevant. I do like a lot of the speeches Morris makes throughout the film, but if history has taught us anything, if he were elected, chances are he wouldn't be able to keep the promises he makes throughout those speeches. It's the tough truth to accept, yes, but it is hard running our country.


Regardless of that, the film is very well made. The cinematography is well-established and well-edited. There are a lot of times when one character is talking to another, but instead of focusing on the character talking, it keeps the camera on the other actor as he/she delivers just the right emotion.


That leads me to my next point; the performances are fantastic. Much like in Drive, Gosling delivers his emotions in a reserved, yet strangely powerful manner. He has a lot more dialogue here, and you could argue that most of that dialogue is exposition, but nevertheless, he does a great job here. And for those of you who thought I wasn't giving him enough credit in my Drive review, he was actually one of two reasons I went to see this film, proving how quickly he's rising as a star. That leads me to my second reason; George Clooney plays Morris in a strong and independent manner, making me believe that he could be a great president.


So, yeah, this is another one of those "not exactly limited but also not widely released" films that I highly recommend. I can't guarantee that you'll enjoy it, but I can certainly say that I found it to be a great film.


This film is worth $15 out of $20.


Thanks for reading!