The Ides Of March vs All Good Things

The Ides of March is a well-made political drama, full of smart dialogue, great performances, and crisp direction by George Clooney. There’s also, much to my delight, a salacious streak running quietly throughout, pitching the movie as close to thriller as it can get without Michael Douglas playing one of the politicians. It’s always nice when a movie seems slight, but has hidden depths. Even better: a movie comes preloaded with prestige, but is also dirty and fun. Like Notes On A Scandal and The Ghost Writer, The Ides Of March has topical heft to guarantee your full investment, but is told with enough of the allure of hearsay and legend that you’ll want to tell friends about it the same way you’d share good gossip.

Stephen (Ryan Gosling) works as press secretary for a Democratic Presidential nomination campaign. He’s young for the job, and quite good at it. Stephen’s charisma ingratiates him with the rest of the staff, the press, and even the opposing campaign’s leaders. He meets regularly with a reporter (Marisa Tomei) who wants him for stories, but doesn’t necessarily need him, since the fact that she’s there for a story means there is one already; Stephen’s cooperation or lack thereof gives her the angle. Tomei and Gosling are great together, in their second ensemble movie this year (following Crazy Stupid Love). I don’t see any reason to stop there.

Stephen’s campaign is to win the Democratic nomination for Governor Mike Morris (George Clooney), who inspires Stephen’s allegiance completely, through his personal integrity, his balanced political ethics, and his own charisma, which is like a more seasoned version of Stephen’s. Governor Morris is the more mature, self-assured, and private of the two, although Stephen’s a quick study. Governor Morris is like, say, George Clooney, and Stephen is more Ryan Gosling. Oh how wonderful typecasting can be when applied correctly. Morris has been around the political block, and knows the game. Stephen is more innocent, thinking the best ideas and policies will win out over any shallow popularity contest posturing. He’ll learn.

The campaign is managed by Paul, a grizzled, cynical, straight-shooter type usually played by Brian Cox or Frank Langella, but this time handled by Phillip Seymour Hoffman. With this and Moneyball, Hoffman, who is fantastic in both, is sending a message to both older character actors and his peers with a rep for being chameleons: watch your backs. Johnny Depp might bury himself under prosthetics and wigs, but dude is not playing twenty years older any time soon. (Depp is four years older than Phillip Seymour Hoffman. So is Brad Pitt.) Paul Giamatti—same trick, same results—manages the opposing campaign, and has his eye on Stephen. He arranges a meeting, and lays it on the line: join their campaign and work in the White House for eight years. Stick with Governor Morris and lose. Their meeting takes on a life of its own, testing loyalties, raising questions, and making Stephen the focus of a separate, secret campaign, as well as a snowballing scandal that propels the plot into pulpier territory. Every time Giamatti or Hoffman are on screen, I expected them to be followed by Jon Lovitz saying “Excellent!” or “Delicious!” Evan Rachel Wood has a vital role as a volunteer for the Governor Morris campaign. There’s an old theatre rule about if you bring a gun on stage in Act 1, then someone has to get shot by Act 3. Likewise, if Evan Rachel Wood plays an intern in a movie, then, well, keep an eye on that one. My favorite scene of the movie features Gosling and Wood, candlelit and profile, in a zippy, sexy bar scene reminiscent of Clooney and Jennifer Lopez in Out Of Sight.

The Ides Of March features George Clooney’s most confident direction yet (his performance is good too). It might not initially impress as much as his previous efforts, because it lacks the stylization of Confessions of a Dangerous Mind and Good Night, And Good Luck. Instead, Clooney films The Ides Of March in as understated a way as possible. The political debates and rallies all take place non-glamorously, in locations like school gymnasiums, and a crucial moment of the film’s climax happens silently and virtually off-camera.

All Good Things is another Ryan Gosling movie (he releases one every couple days) marrying the dramatic with the scandalous. All Good Things is based on fact, though, giving it an Unsolved Mysteries true crime tone I find irresistible. Gosling plays David Marks, a rich, rebellious man who marries a girl (Kirsten Dunst) from a working class background David’s father (Frank Langella) finds unimpressive, to say the least. At first, we think we’re getting an opposites attract/love conquers all story, with the focus being romantic. But David is a strange young man, probably bi-polar, with a violent temper and a proclivity for lies and secrets. I can’t tell you much more, without spoiling the twists in All Good Things. Gosling impresses, yet again, in his strangest role yet. David Marks is a weird dude. I could never have guessed his situation by the film’s climax. And Dunst is luminous. The most pleasant surprise of all of Gosling’s output the past couple years is that Kirsten Dunst is my favorite of his costars. I wish more people had seen All Good Things during its initial release (it was one of those held onto forever, then rushed out in several formats on the sly), because it’s shocking, creepy, and far enough on this side of sleazy that you’ll take it all seriously. The director, Andrew Jarecki, knows the turf, having filmed the documentary Capturing The Friedmans, which had its share (and then some) of shocking, creepy and both sides of sleazy. He must have been tempted to make a documentary from this story as well. The real David Marks apparently visited the set. He’s such an oddball though (and maybe much worse), I suppose was hard for Jarecki to pin down the exact difference between truth and gossip. I’ll take a little of each, thank you.

The Ides Of March: A-

All Good Things: A-