Art Imitating Life

This afternoon, I went to see The Ides of March, the new political drama directed by George Clooney. It follows the staff of a Democratic candidate for president as he campaigns to win the Ohio state primary.

I have to say, it felt to me like the Contagion of political dramas. The movie was striving to be utterly realistic, presenting as accurate a portrait of political brinksmanship as possible. And it doing so, it wasn't always entertaining. The West Wing plumbed this sort of material for years on television, and did so with larger than life characters, better than life behavior, and wittier than life dialogue. This movie was simply "life." It felt more like a documentary on the subject of politics than a dramatization.

The cast is strong. Clooney himself takes what amounts to a secondary role, playing the candidate. His staff includes Ryan Gosling, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Evan Rachel Wood, while other players in the story are portrayed by Marisa Tomei and Paul Giamatti. Everyone works within the atmosphere of realism, giving quiet and restrained performances. But while this certainly fits the intended mood of the piece, it also contributes to the feeling that there simply isn't enough fiction in this story. These actors would be capable of a much more elaborate story, and the movie feels like it's holding them back.

I can't really say that The Ides of March was a bad movie, but it is nevertheless a movie I can't really recommend. I rate it a middle of the road C.