"All the reporters love you. Even the reporters that hate you still love you"
The Ides of March is
a political thriller set during the Democratic Primary in Ohio in which Governor Mike Morris (George
Clooney) is running for the Party’s nomination for President. His team includes
Campaign Manager Paul Zara (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and young up and comer
Stephen Myers (Ryan Gosling). Myers is convinced that Morris is the man to lead
the country but receives a tempting job offer from rival Campaign Manager Tom
Duffy (Paul Giamatti) which opens up a torrent of problems for all involved.
The film is full of twists, turns and surprises and kept me
glued throughout its fairly short 101 minutes. Clooney’s Morris felt like a
Candidate too good to be true to me, being pro choice, atheist, pro alternative
energy and with plans for free college education. He was a candidate with the
sort of policies that appealed to me. To be honest, knowing what I do of
American Politics, his platform felt a little unrealistic but I’d vote for him.
As well as a candidate I was on board with, the film kept my interest up as I
never knew which direction it would turn next. It felt like a good episode of The West Wing crossed with a crime
mystery.