The Ides of March (2011) [R] ****

Stephen Meyers (Ryan Gosling) is an idealistic young media communications consultant, working for Paul Zara (Philip Seymour Hoffman) on the presidential campaign of Governor Mike Morris (George Clooney). The team is just days away from the Ohio Democratic Presidential primary election, and Morris is neck-and-neck in the polls with Senator Pullman, whose own campaign chairman Tom Duffy (Paul Giamatti), will do whatever it takes to win the election. Both campaigns are negotiating for the endorsement and the delegates of a third contender, but the price he is asking is high.

Then, Stephen gets distracted from the campaign by the romantic attentions of Molly Stearns (Evan Rachel Wood) an attractive young intern and, at the same time, Tom Duffy tries to convince him to come to work for Duffy on Pullman's campaign.And when Stephen discovers that Molly has a secret, that Duffy is playing dirty politics, that his boss Paul Zara no longer trusts him, and that political reporter Ida Horowicz (Marisa Tomei) would sell him out for a good story, Stephen finds himself caught in the middle. Now he has to decide what is most important, winning the election or preserving his integrity.

Written by George Clooney, Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon from Willimon’s play Farragut North, and tautly directed by George Clooney, this is a revealing behind-the-scenes look at the deals, compromises and dirty politics that are all a part of presidential primary elections. 

[Blogger's rating: **** out of 5 stars.]

Labels: drama, politics 
Internet Movie Database 
Metacritic 67/100 
RottenTomatoes Averages (critics=74, viewers=72) 
Blu-ray