Movie Monday - Ides of March

I'd like to start by saying that I really hope Ryan Gosling gets a good light-hearted comedy, or even a light-hearted action movie, or something just not quite so intense, sometime soon.

Remember how I said that I thought "Drive" was a really good movie in large part because of him? (I said it here, in September.) And remember how I said that "Blue Valentine" was just heart-wrenchingly emotional, again because of him? (That was back in January, here.) Well, I'm about to say the same thing about "Ides of March."

The movie, overall, isn't really a political thriller. And it's not espionage, because there aren't any real spies. It is kind of a suspense movie, because you're never quite sure what's going on. But, mainly, it's a movie about the public and not-so-public sides of running a major political campaign.

The candidate whose campaign Gosling's character is on is played by George Clooney, in some of his most charming and creepy style. There are opposing - yet equally slimy - campaign managers played by Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Paul Giamatti (two actors I genuinely don't enjoy watching on screen - and didn't care to watch in this, either). And, there is Marisa Tomei as a veteran political reporter who, frankly, is looking as stunning as ever - even though her character isn't really supposed to be "pretty."

I wish I had more to say about the plot. But... well... the movie is so much about the characters that there isn't really any reason to get into much of it. It's about the machinations of trying to win a presidential election. That's really about it. And, in the same way that "Contagion" would freak out any germophobe, "Ides of March" will set off warning signs with anyone who feels that politics is a corrupt business.

One extra bonus in the movie (aside from the fact that it was pretty darned good): the campaigning is centered around Cincinnati. And they filmed on a bunch of college campuses in Ohio. So you kind of get a virtual campus tour of Miami University, Kent State, and Xavier, as well as some interesting (read "not so pleasant") views of Cincy, itself.

Overall rating: A. I think it pretty much delivered what it promised and, although it didn't leave me feeling good about myself, I did leave feeling good about the choice of movie we'd gone to.