The Ides of March...
Clooney's most accomplished directorial effort, The Ides of March details the behind-the-scenes turmoil of a political campaign as viewed through the eyes of a young but experienced strategist (Ryan Gosling's Stephen Meyers) - with the film inevitably exploring the betrayals and backstabbings that are part and parcel with the political world. For much of its first half, The Ides of March comes off as an entertaining yet far-from-engrossing drama that is, predictably, elevated by its performances - as Clooney has elicited stellar work from an impressive cast that includes, among others, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Paul Giamatti, and Evan Rachel Wood. (And this is to say nothing of Gosling's consistently mesmerizing turn as the movie's affable hero.)
The progressively compelling atmosphere ensures that The Ides of March has, by the time it reaches its memorable conclusion, established itself as one of the most intriguing and flat-out engaging political dramas to come around in quite some time, with the protagonist's unexpectedly perilous journey ensuring that the film is often far more suspenseful than one might have initially anticipated....
