Governor Mike Morris is fighting to get a nomination as a potential Presidential Candidate during the Democratic Party primary. Stephen (30) is his junior, while Paul is his senior campaign manager. One day, Stephen gets a phone call from Duffy, the campaign manager of Pullman, the rival of Morris. Duffy offers Stephen a job if he joins his side, but Stephen refuses. Stephen starts a relationship with Molly, a young intern, but is shocked when discovering that she had an affair with Morris and now wants to get an abortion. Morris refuses to accept the endorsement of Thompson, feeling the latter is incompatible with his views. When Molly dies from drug overdose upon hearing that Stephen is threatening to sabotage Morris' campaign with his affair, Stephen blackmails Morris into accepting Thompson's endorsement and securing a nomination.
George Clooney's 4th feature length film as a director, "The Ides of March" fulfils the author's fascination with politics, delivering a bitter story about disillusionment with any ideals. Surprisingly, even though liberal himself, Clooney depicted the dirty behind-the-scenes ploys of the Democratic Party, not the Republicans, making the whole topic even more challenging. The movie is somehow lukewarm and never really goes beyond the good grade, except for some isolated moments of greatness thanks to strong performances by the actors. In one of these moments, Stephen, the junior campaign manager for Democratic candidate Morris, meets his rival, Duffy, who tries to persuade him to switch sides. Stephen counters that this is "something Republicans would do", but Duffy is quick to respond: "You're right, this is exactly what the Republicans do, and it's about time we learned from them. They're meaner, tougher and more disciplined than we are. I've been in this business for twenty five years and I've seen way too many Democrats bite the dust because they wouldn't get down in the mud with the elephants!" While this is surprising, nothing of this has such a revelatory punch as it was expected. It is kind of standard, with a limited creativity. Stephen's character arc goes a fine path, depicting him change from an idealistic man who believes in his candidate to a blackmailing liar who only wants to win the race, realizing that in politics, even people with the most noble intentions have to compromise to achieve their goal. The most intense moment is actually non-political: when the journalist, Ida, who snitched him in her story, is not allowed to go beyond a backstage pass blocked by bodyguards, Stephen tells her: "You are my best friend". That Stephen came the closest to a friendship with someone who just tolerates him and barely sees him is already indicative of what kind of world of schemes he got himself into.
Grade:++
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