The Ides of March 2011

Stephen Meyers is a young idealist whos brilliant at communications is second in command of Governor Mike Morriss presidential campaign and is a true believer. In the middle of the Ohio primary the campaign manager of Morriss opponent asks Meyers to meet he offers him a job. At the same time Morriss negotiations for the endorsement of the man in third place a North Carolina Senator hit a snag. A young campaign intern Molly Stearns gets Stephens romantic attention. Republicans have a trick up their sleeve Stephen may be too trusting and Molly has a secret. Whats most important career victory or virtue

Review

It's difficult to write a review about this film. It's so full of contradictions (artistic and otherwise) that it leaves you with a funny aftertaste. The film is about an idealistic young man working as a consultant for a campaigning politician and the conflicts and dichotomies he has to face if he wants to remain whole and with his integrity unbroken. Purely from the filmmaking standpoint the movie will remind you of political thrillers of the 70s made by Alan J. Pakula or Sydney Pollack. It's beautifully shot has a great script a very adhoc music score great performances by everyone involved. The way the story and main character evolved however lacked coherence and at one point I was under the impression I was watching a fragment of a different movie. Somehow it went from A to D skipping B and C altogether. That alone changed my viewing experience from fully satisfying to one that as I said at the beginning left a funny aftertaste. The movie is more of a character study than a political thriller per se as the former it works mainly because of the performances by actors who are able to convey the inner conflicts they face. As the latter don't expect to be taken aback with unpredictable twists or edgeofyourseat suspense because you won't find those here. I give it a 710.