Director: George Clooney
Screenwriter: George Clooney,
Grant Heslov, Beau Willimon, based on the play “Farragut North”, by Beau
Willimon
Cast: Ryan Gosling, Evan Rachel
Wood, Philip Seymour Hoffman, George Clooney and Paul Giamatti
Plot: The Democratic
Presidential Primary race is finely poised. Governor Mike Morris (Clooney)
holds a delicate lead over his opponent, but it is fragile. Working on his
campaign is the young media mind, Stephen Meyers (Gosling), who is idealistic
and believes in this candidate. However, he is the focal point for a series of
events which will change the shape of the campaign and expose him to dirty
tricks, all of which start when he is approached by opposing campaign manager,
Tom Duffy (Giamatti), who suggests he changes sides.
Running Time: 100m 46s
Certificate: 15 - Contains strong language
One thing you can be sure about
with George Clooney is that he is almost certainly going to turn out
interesting work. Whatever project he’s connected with, whether as a live
actor, writer-director or even just a voice actor, will be worth talking about.
Even his last directorial effort, the American-Football-based screwball comedy Leatherheads, had a charm about it and a
rich visual feel which was diverting, despite it being a total flop critically
and commercially.
Here, he returns to the sort of
terrain he was on with his best film, Good
Night, and Good Luck. The setting of The
Ides of March is political, the atmosphere is serious and the style leans
toward the film noir. However, whereas Good
Night was about issues as much as it was about character, the story here is
one of loyalty and betrayal which just happens to have a political backdrop.
