The Ides Of March *Film Review*

The Ides Of March (2011)

Directed By: George Clooney

Screenplay By: George Clooney, 

Grant Heslov & Beau Willimon

*Based on a Play: Farragut North

By: Beau Willimon*

Film Description from IMDB

Stephen Meyers is an idealist who's brilliant at communications, is second in command of Governor Mike Morris's presidential campaign, and is a true believer. In the middle of the Ohio primary, the campaign manager of Morris's opponent asks Meyers to meet; he offers him a job. At the same time, Morris's negotiations for the endorsement of the man in third place, a North Carolina Senator, hit a snag. A young campaign intern, Molly Stearns, gets Stephen's romantic attention. Republicans have a trick up their sleeve; Stephen may be too trusting, and Molly has a secret. What's most important, career, victory, or virtue?

Film Trailer

My Review

The Ides Of March was a definite interesting and intriguing film. This had been on my list to see for a while, and I don't know why, maybe the recent election...I don't know, but I just felt like finally watching it. I think the story all was very good. For me, it was a slow beginning, and I actually felt that there was actually more of an inciting incident in the middle to the end of the film. There's Stephen played by Ryan Gosling, and I believe he did an awesome job playing his role. Stephen is a young ambitious campaign staff worker that's second in command of Governor Mike Morris's Campaign for President. And oh, Morris is played by George Clooney, the  director and one of the screenwriters too :) He's actually a minor character, as he's not seen so much in the film, but he's definitely talked about, a lot. There's actually a secret that is part of the inciting incident, that I was a little shocked to know about, but hmm it was written well in the story. If you watch this film or already have, then you will know what I mean. 

Anyway, the story, as mentioned, was overall really good. There was an Ohio primary, political gain and ambition, scandal and secrets. What more? Yeah, there was just good amount of, this and that, that made me watch the film, to the end. I felt that there was good acting, so far to the point, that this almost felt real, like a real campaign. Gosling was very, very good in this film and other actors including Clooney and Philip Seymour Hoffman also did a great job.

I feel this film was made well. I wish it was a little longer, but maybe that's just it; getting to the main point, instead of dragging on, so I kind of liked that feeling of wanting more, but anyway, there was a great written script. The dialogue and everything seemed believable including the locations, and all situations that occurred. I saw that the camera shots added depth to a scene, in the characters favor. There were a lot of side shots & close-ups and I think that was definitely to connect to the character more, to feel what they are feeling, so I think that was all great. What kinda, sorta got me, was the ending, because I feel there was a bit of a cliff hanger; maybe it's me, but I wanted to know what happened after.... :)

My Rating: 7.4/10

MPAA Rating: Rated R (Strong Language)