Gosling plays Stephen Meyers, the press secretary to the potential next President, governor Mike Morris (Clooney). Meyers may not be the top-dog on the campaign – that position goes to Paul (Philip Seymour Hoffman) – but he has a certain power and control that his opponents revere and envy. He knows exactly what to do, and when to do it, for the benefit of Morris’s left-wing bid to secure public confidence. But Meyer’s talents attract attention from Tom Duffy (Paul Giamatti), a rival campaign manager who is determined to get this bright young chap to work for him.
The script, which is adapted from Beau Willimon’s stage play Farragut North, does not outrageously seek to favour one political party or another. George Clooney’s film Good Night and Good Luck was guilty of a heavily manipulated political and historical view of the McCarthy witch-hunt. Thankfully, The Ides of March doesn’t go down that route. It’s a film that will probably resonate with everyone that has, at some point in their lives, felt disenchanted or disappointed with the party they voted for.
The Ides of March (2011), directed by George Clooney, is released on blu-ray and DVD in the UK by Entertainment One, Certificate 15.
