The Ides of March

Although it has been significantly changed from "Farragut North," Beau Willimon's play that serves as its source material, director and co-writer (with Grant Heslov) George Clooney's "The Ides of March" proves to be just as smart, knowing, and above all, cynical a look at the game of politics as has been seen onscreen in years. Perfectly timed for the start of the presidential primary season, this film may be the most wickedly telling look at how all the backroom maneuvering is played since Gore Vidal's "The Best Man" film adaptation with Henry Fonda and Cliff Robertson in 1964.

The focus here is on the operatives. Clooney's smooth, if morally challenged, Bill Clinton–like democratic presidential candidate Mike Morris is a supporting role—in fact, he wasn't even seen in the play, only talked about. The center of attention is Ryan Gosling's Stephen Myers, an idealistic and brilliant young operative who is the brains behind the Morris campaign, along with a more practical and less moralistic vet, played by Philip Seymour Hoffman, who is less concerned with the seedy activities of his candidate than with just winning. Added to the mix is the campaign manager (Paul Giamatti) for the opposing democratic candidate who is out to steal Stephen for his team. This basic conflict for Myers sets up all the gamesmanship and intrigue that make up the core of the film. And as with any hot political drama, there's a sweet young thing lurking on the fringes, ready to make sex the main issue. Evan Rachel Wood fills that role nicely in this regard.

All of this serves as a great template for fine actors to do their thing, and under Clooney's sharp, pointed direction they get to shine. Gosling is a great choice for the central role, smooth and experienced beyond his years but still believably idealistic enough to make him second-guess what he's doing in the middle of all this. After "Drive" and "Crazy, Stupid, Love," Gosling is having a hell of a year, and now he proves he's at the top of his game among his generation of actors. His confrontation scene with Clooney near the film's end is not only brilliantly written and directed; it gives these two actors a lot of meat, and they run with it. Wood doesn't stretch with her damaged-goods Lolita, but she holds her own in this company without overemoting. Hoffman, as he was in "Moneyball," is at his grizzled old-vet best, but he could be starting to get a little too typecast in these sorts of roles. Giamatti is perfectly disheveled and slippery as the rival campaign manager. There's a fine group of terrific actors in lesser roles as well, notably Marisa Tomei and Jeffrey Wright.

As Clooney has proved in the past with "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind" and particularly his Oscar-nominated "Good Night, and Good Luck," all those years in front of the camera have not been lost on him, and he proves a crackerjack director of actors by giving this cast full of pros lots of room to make screen magic. And neither they nor Clooney disappoints.

Genre: Drama
Directed by George Clooney
Written by George Clooney and Grant Heslov
Starring Ryan Gosling, George Clooney, Evan Rachel Wood, Paul Giamatti, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Marisa Tomei, Jeffrey Wright