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The Ides of March is nothing more than a political drama. There is nothing extraordinary about it as a whole. The premise is as old as politics itself. However, the individual pieces – the performances, the cinematography, the dialogue, the characters – all are excellent in-and-of-themselves. This makes the sum of its parts greater than the whole.

As the plot goes, Stephen Myers (Ryan Gosling) is an up-and-coming political strategist. Along with Paul Zara (Philip Seymour Hoffman), he is leading Mike Morris’ (George Clooney) campaign for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States. They hit road blocks involving a Times reporter (Marisa Tomei), their political competition (Paul Giamatti), an undecided influential senator (Jeffrey Wright), and Stephen’s love interest (Evan Rachel Wood). The first half of the film is an uninteresting catalog of the tough problems facing a campaign. All of this is rather mundane, but handled well. We learn who the major players are and get a feel for their characters relatively quickly. This serves as a decently entertaining political drama but nothing that stands out. Around the midpoint of the film, the story kicks in. This is when interesting things begin to happen as alliances shift, friends betray friends, and the story swerves into many unpredictable directions. This second half is gripping, and much more enjoyable than its build-up. By this point, we know who all the characters are and generally can feel for all of them. The audience is invested in the story and their fates, which, in a rare example in contemporary American cinema, is actually hard to see coming.

Taken as a whole, The Ides of March is a gripping political drama grounded in reality but also far enough removed to be enjoyable. Clooney plays the ideal Democratic candidate, and his character has little depth for a good reason. He is a stand-in for any number of successful candidates. Of course, Clooney has the presence needed to portray America’s ideal president. Throughout the course of the film, he is seen speaking at events and this is, of course, an opportunity for Clooney to espouse his liberal principles. This fills in his character and doesn’t feel hokey, but that’s coming from someone who would vote for this candidate. I’m sure the right will feel differently. The real thrust of the film isn’t for one side of the aisle or the other. The movie has a realistic, if somewhat depressing, view on the political system. You can feel that Clooney, like most of us, is fed up with the petty game politics (I would say ‘has become’ but ‘has always been’ is probably more accurate). The movie focuses less on the candidate and his views and more on the corruption of a young idealist (Gosling). This doesn’t play out as cliché as it sounds, thankfully. The complex web that is formed by the characters’ conflicting interests is deftly, and accurately from what I can tell, portrayed in the film. It is when these stock characters begin to break the molds they come in that the plot picks up and provides for a gripping second half.

The moral dilemma presented by the film is ultimately left unanswered. Sure, we see what the protagonist (antihero, perhaps?) chooses in the long run, but we aren’t made to judge one way or the other. The question is: do you do the right thing and lose or play dirty and win? This seems like a simply question for the high-horse moralists among us, but if it is for the greater good, isn’t it better to have the better candidate win? Do the ends justify the means? These are dangerous questions to ask ourselves, and society has clearly chosen a winner.

Overall, The Ides of March is a mainstream political drama that is well-written, expertly directed, and gorgeously shot. The film breaks out of its somewhat mundane introduction and turns out to be a gripping drama. Clooney continues to show his skill not only with his presence but more interestingly his direction, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Paul Giamatti do what they do best, and Ryan Gosling continues to grow as a leading man. Definitely worth a look, and prime Oscar material for the Academy to fall back on.