Review: The Ides of March (2011, Clooney)
November 22nd 2011 01:12
The Ides of March
Written November 12, 2011
There’s a moment in George Clooney’s The Ides of March wherein the film’s protagonist (can we really call him this? Is he supposed to be?) makes a decision. The entire rest of the film, not just his arc, hinges on the believability of this decision. Unfortunately, the structure of the film up until this key point does not devote enough time to the development of this character to carry out the necessary believability of his action.
This is not to say the film doesn’t try. There are hints of the type of person Stephen Meyers (Ryan Gosling) is but the exposition is awkward and by the time we arrive at the particular moment, Stephen’s core personality and ethics are still fuzzy.
Gosling, a phenomenal talent, seems to be a victim of unfortunate miscasting. It isn’t that Gosling cannot play this role; it’s perhaps that he tried to bring too much to a character that simply wasn’t there on paper. There are a few lines that came out as wooden; forced. This is not like Gosling as an actor, who is normally very naturalistic.
Gosling is surrounded by an impressive cast. Although Clooney’s directorial project, he takes the back seat here in terms of acting. His role is rather a small one regardless of the fact that everything in the plot is intricately tied to him.
Philip Seymour Hoffman and Paul Giamatti are the film’s best assets, as the two face off against one another in key roles. Their characters are by far the most compelling. Giamatti sadly doesn’t get enough screen time and between the two of them I would have been fine if their characters helmed the entire film.
Going back to the beginning criticisms, at one point Paul (Hoffman) tells Stephen exactly why he made the choice he did. When that scene occurred, it made perfect scene to me. The motivations were relatable and plausible. I found myself nodding my head along to Paul’s words but then soon realized although he was saying these things we never felt them earlier. We didn’t see this particular ideology in Gosling and we needed to. The film also suffers from a poorly conceived romantic subplot between Gosling and Evan Rachel Wood. Her character, Molly, is not expendable as she plays an important role in the inner workings of the plot but particularly her scenes with Gosling fall flat. Gosling, who normally has great chemistry wit female costars, has no spark with Wood. Their seduction feels clumsy, overt, and awkward. The film itself contains many veiled references to an Obama like change in regime. Clooney’s Presidential candidate Mike Morris is displayed in posters reminiscent of the iconic Obama mural. This photo is shown numerous times in the film’s background and the comparisons are unavoidable.
The Ides of March is not a terrible film within the political genre; it just isn’t a particularly memorable one either. With some shifting of pacing an set up in the first act it could have allowed the audience to identify more with the lead character, or at the very least understand him more. By the time that final scene occurs, we don’t necessarily care about the moral and ethical complexities brought to the foreground.
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