The Ides of March | Film review

Never underestimate a film with a cast like The Ides of March’s, especially one that calls for Ryan Gosling to face off against Philip Seymour Hoffman in an epic shout-down on the virtues of loyalty. These two could probably make DMV brochures compelling. Add to the mix George Clooney’s intelligence as a director (Good Night, and Good Luck), along with shadowy cinematography that suggests ’70s-era Gordon Willis, and what you have are the makings of a crack political thriller that packs in a few surprises and maintains a brisk pace until the end.

The Ides of March delivers on that promise. Still, as much as it’s been goosed, this tale of an ambitious campaign staffer (a superb Gosling) who trips on his way to the top emerges as somewhat dated and dramatically convenient. Howard Dean purportedly provided the inspiration for Clooney’s presidential aspirant, a no-bullshit governor. (The film is adapted from Beau Willimon’s play Farragut North.) Yet this story of Democratic infighting might have seemed quaint a decade before Lee Atwater. You mean to say political rivals sometimes deceive each other’s operatives? And that campaigns are hotbeds of hypocritical staffers and libidinous interns? In a post-factual era when spin has convinced a large portion of America that Obama somehow socialized health care, the backstabbing here can’t help but seem as consequential as an election for golf-club president.