The Ides of March

Any English major can tell you what the title is all about. Or at least any Shakespeare buff. The title comes from the soothsayer from Julius Caesar's William Shakespeare. Oh, sorry... from William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. "Beware the ides of March."

So what does this film have in common with Julius Caesar? Nothing, except the politics. So that is what we shall discuss.

First, the campaign team of Governor Mike Morris (George Clooney) as he climbs his way up the electoral ladder. There’s Paul Zara, played by Philip Seymour Hoffman, brilliant as always. So we’ll skip him.

"Yeah, you know I'm brilliant."

Then there’s his protégé Stephen Meyers, played by Ryan Gosling. Now Ryan Gosling has an all-American face, and he can act with it, especially with his eyes. But he can’t act very much with his voice. He always talks in a certain slow drawl, and is most of the time devoid of any expressions and emotions. I think he should work on that a bit. All right, after Gosling, there’s the slutty intern played by Evan Rachel Wood. Sometimes she looks pretty, and other times, she looks like a cokehead slut. As if I even know what a cokehead slut looks like.

"Yes, a cokehead slut."

On the other side of the political fence, there’s Zara’s rival Tom Duffy, played by Paul Giamatti, who is kind of the opposite of Ryan Gosling in the voice department. Giamatti’s voice is annoying, to say the least. It’s whiny, and it’s nasal. But he’s a great actor despite that.

"We both got a problem with our voice, Gosling. Deal with it."

Other actors in the cast are Marisa Tomei, whose hair I don’t like; Jeffrey Wright, who I’m seeing a lot of lately; and Max Minghella, the annoying sidekick to the Winklevii twins in The Social Network.

I almost forgot to mention that this flick was directed by George Clooney himself. However, I only have one complaint, and that is regarding the character of Governor Mike Morris himself. I felt his character wasn’t fleshed out too well, especially since his character is directly involved in the film’s turning point. I hope Clooney doesn’t justify his lack of characterization with the fact that he was busy behind the camera.

"How 'bout I justify it with my
looking awesome instead?"

The Ides of March. USA. 2011.



Rating: Six point nine out of ten.




*some info from IMDb
pics from All Movie Photo