Ah, October Break. A whole week of no classes…so what exactly do I do? Well, I could have watched the Republican debate this week, but if I hear Herman Cain say 9-9-9 one more time I may actually wish for Rick Perry to open his mouth again. So, instead, I went to the movies, specifically The Ides of March.
The film, directed by George Clooney, stars Clooney as PA Governor Mike Morris running for the Democratic nomination for President in the Ohio primary, and Ryan Gosling as his simultaneously slick and idealistic wunderkind communications head Stephen Meyers. Alongside them are Morris’s campaign manager Paul, played by Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Morris’s rival’s campaign manager Tom Duffy, played by Paul Giamatti, an NY Times reporter Ida (Marisa Tomei), and young intern Moly (Evan Rachel Wood).
The movie, is on the whole, very good. The cast are all great (especially Giamatti and Hoffman) and the directing is very well done. Clooney comes off as an inspirational, progressive fantasy democrat a la Martin Sheen in the West Wing or Barack Obama in 2008. But, the film does seem to merely mimic the same fare of basically ever other political movie — that is, politics makes young idealists into scheming cynics (The Candidate), inspiring candidates are never what they seem (Primary Colors), and people will do anything to keep power (State of Play). Still, the Ides of March is a very enjoyable film and, well let’s say it’ll be more fun then Mitt Romney and Herman Cain arguing about the right number of points a policy plan should have.
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