George Clooney’s The Ides of March is an actors’ movie, a picture that gives performers some provocative things to do without necessarily providing a great story for them to hang onto. It’s also a movie made for grown-ups, and Lord knows there are few enough of those around today. But this story of an idealistic young press secretary who finds his principles eroded at the hands of a corrupt Democratic presidential candidate keeps getting in the way of its own chin-stroking: It’s carefully designed to make us think it’s making us think, but in the end, what’s it really telling us? That politics — and politicians — can be dishonest and ugly? Please don’t stop the presses for that one.
But at least The Ides of March — which was written by Clooney, Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon, adapted from Willimon’s play Farragut North — is neatly constructed, made with a respectful bow in the direction of classic Hollywood filmmaking. Clooney is sometimes a middling director (Leatherheads) and sometimes a terrific one (Good Night, and Good Luck), but at the least he’s motivated by a desire to tell stories in a straightforward way without excess clutter or showiness. He also knows that even pictures that feature a lot of guys talking (and The Ides of March is definitely one of those) don’t have to be visually dull: Cinematographer Phedon Papamichael sometimes lights and shoots the actors as if they were sitting for Hurrell portraits. At one…
Heidi Klum Heidi Montag Hilarie Burton Hilary Duff Hilary Swank Isla Fisher Ivana Bozilovic
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