The political drama The Ides of March will dazzle you with its impressive cast ensemble: the wunderkid Ryan Gosling with George Clooney, flanked on either side by Philip Seymour Hoffman, Paul Giamatti, Jeffrey Wright, and Marisa Tomei. And with an intriguing plot that promises an exciting twist, you can sense an Oscar buzz-- even from the thrilling trailer alone.
Adapted from the Beau Willimon play Farragut North, and directed and co-written by Clooney, The Ides of March is about Stephen Meyers (Gosling), a young ideological hotshot junior campaign manager for Democratic presidential candidate Morris (Clooney). In the heat of the Ohio presidential primary, Meyers is suddenly caught up in a political entanglement and becomes an unwitting pawn and a reluctant player in the dirty game of politics. Would he survive? Or shoot himself in the head?
The movie opens with Gosling (who is noticeably cute here), the poster boy of young incredible talent, giving campaign speech on Morris' irreligious sentiments. And from then on, we watch with bated breath whether Clooney can pull off a political drama without boring or shortchanging us.
The Ides of March provides sparks of interest, building little bits and pieces of tension and excitement in the midst of mundane happenings and mundane dialogue. It feels like we are forever waiting for an explosion, or an extraordinary event. It's revealing small tricks and surprises here and there, yet you're still waiting for other tricks up its sleeve. But there is none. Like, that's it? Wasn't that just the...er...appetizer to the main course? Alas, the main course never arrives.
The Ides of March is a one-dimensional story with--let me borrow a critic's phrase-- "soap-operatic twists." It's cliche-ish, masked by elegant shots and critically acclaimed performers. The actors were perfect, and Gosling is superb. There are two satisfying scenes in the film, though: Hoffman's speech on trust and loyalty, and Gosling's eyes in the kitchen scene with Clooney, his eyes speaking a thousand words and repressing conflicting and unpredictable emotions, which have more depth than the entire film itself.
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