Clooney's The Ides of March Betrays Expectations
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George Clooney’s political thriller The Ides of March debuted in theatres this week, grossing a measly 10.5 million dollars on its opening weekend. Filmed in northern Kentucky, Cincinnati, and Michigan, The Ides of March offers some impressive "Rust Belt" cinematography, but not much else. In this movie, Ryan Gosling stars as Stephen Meyers, a young ambitious campaign staffer with a bright future in politics. A few bad decisions by Meyers lands him in a crash course on dirty politics that later threaten his life and career.
Besides Gosling, this movie stars George Clooney as governor Mike Morris, Phillip Seymour Hoffman as campaign manager Paul Zara, Paul Giamatti as political rival Tom Duffy, Evan Rachael Wood as Gosling’s love interest Molly Stearns, and Marisa Tomei as a completely useless Ida Horowicz. Every single one of these actors is Oscar nominated, but you could barley tell it watching this movie.
Gosling’s performance in this movie is below average to say the least; he adds very little to this movie other than semi-witty comments that often miss their mark. Director/actor/writer/producer George Clooney does a good acting job in this movie, but most of his on-screen time is spent preaching about his extremely left-wing political views. The best acting job in this movie was done by Paul Giamatti as Republican campaign manager Tom Duffy; if this movie gets any king of Oscar mention it will probably come in the form of a Best Supporting Actor nomination from Giamatti. Marisa Tomei, one of the most renowned living female actors, plays Ida Horowicz, the ONLY reporter in the country that seems to be covering this election. Tomei contributes absolutely nothing to this movie; it saddens me that such a great actor's talents would be wasted in an almost nonexistent role.
During the first half of this movie I found myself extremely bored, almost to the point that I left the theater early. The plot moved along extremely slowly; I kept waiting for the movie to pick up and take shape, but it never really did. I admit that there was a decent twist at the end, but by the time it happened I had already been dulled by an hour and a half of boredom.
The dialogue between Gosling and Evan Rachael Wood is ridiculously bad, and many times you find yourself wondering why any of it is even in there in the first place. The two don’t really seem to have much of a bond; it seems like Wood is just another one of Gosling’s “flings”. Another thing that greatly surprised me in this movie was when Even Rachael Wood’s character announced to Gosling that she was actually 20, which is under the legal age of consent for the state they were in. This was extremely surprising to me because Evan Rachael Wood looks like she’s about 35, and because Gosling didn’t even seem to care that see was underage.
Another strange thing about this movie is that every time it shows a shot of Cincinnati, it is almost completely empty except for the only reporter working the campaign, Marisa Tomei. There are also many geographical errors in this movie that I noticed instantly. For example, in one scene Gosling is driving Wood south across the Roebling Bridge to Covington (Kentucky), but they somehow end up at a Cincinnati abortion clinic.
Overall, This below average political thriller lacks substance and intrigue; it tries to fill in its many plot holes with witty comebacks that most of the time fail miserably. The Ides of March could have been good, but other than great shots of Cincinnati and a small amount of insight into the American political system there wasn’t much in it to hold my interest.
My Rating: 6.5/ 10
Corey B
George Clooney’s political thriller The Ides of March debuted in theatres this week, grossing a measly 10.5 million dollars on its opening weekend. Filmed in northern Kentucky, Cincinnati, and Michigan, The Ides of March offers some impressive "Rust Belt" cinematography, but not much else. In this movie, Ryan Gosling stars as Stephen Meyers, a young ambitious campaign staffer with a bright future in politics. A few bad decisions by Meyers lands him in a crash course on dirty politics that later threaten his life and career.
Besides Gosling, this movie stars George Clooney as governor Mike Morris, Phillip Seymour Hoffman as campaign manager Paul Zara, Paul Giamatti as political rival Tom Duffy, Evan Rachael Wood as Gosling’s love interest Molly Stearns, and Marisa Tomei as a completely useless Ida Horowicz. Every single one of these actors is Oscar nominated, but you could barley tell it watching this movie.
Gosling’s performance in this movie is below average to say the least; he adds very little to this movie other than semi-witty comments that often miss their mark. Director/actor/writer/producer George Clooney does a good acting job in this movie, but most of his on-screen time is spent preaching about his extremely left-wing political views. The best acting job in this movie was done by Paul Giamatti as Republican campaign manager Tom Duffy; if this movie gets any king of Oscar mention it will probably come in the form of a Best Supporting Actor nomination from Giamatti. Marisa Tomei, one of the most renowned living female actors, plays Ida Horowicz, the ONLY reporter in the country that seems to be covering this election. Tomei contributes absolutely nothing to this movie; it saddens me that such a great actor's talents would be wasted in an almost nonexistent role.
During the first half of this movie I found myself extremely bored, almost to the point that I left the theater early. The plot moved along extremely slowly; I kept waiting for the movie to pick up and take shape, but it never really did. I admit that there was a decent twist at the end, but by the time it happened I had already been dulled by an hour and a half of boredom.
The dialogue between Gosling and Evan Rachael Wood is ridiculously bad, and many times you find yourself wondering why any of it is even in there in the first place. The two don’t really seem to have much of a bond; it seems like Wood is just another one of Gosling’s “flings”. Another thing that greatly surprised me in this movie was when Even Rachael Wood’s character announced to Gosling that she was actually 20, which is under the legal age of consent for the state they were in. This was extremely surprising to me because Evan Rachael Wood looks like she’s about 35, and because Gosling didn’t even seem to care that see was underage.
Another strange thing about this movie is that every time it shows a shot of Cincinnati, it is almost completely empty except for the only reporter working the campaign, Marisa Tomei. There are also many geographical errors in this movie that I noticed instantly. For example, in one scene Gosling is driving Wood south across the Roebling Bridge to Covington (Kentucky), but they somehow end up at a Cincinnati abortion clinic.
Overall, This below average political thriller lacks substance and intrigue; it tries to fill in its many plot holes with witty comebacks that most of the time fail miserably. The Ides of March could have been good, but other than great shots of Cincinnati and a small amount of insight into the American political system there wasn’t much in it to hold my interest.
My Rating: 6.5/ 10
Corey B
