With his slick direction and cinematography assist from Phedon Papamichael, Clooney did triple duty, along with Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon, adapting the latter’s play Farragut North for the screen. While there are convenient omissions in the plot, the minor contrivances are easily forgivable in a screenplay full of sharp dialogue and some great twists. It doesn’t hurt that Hoffman and Giamatti, often prone to hitting their foreheads during their performances, are refreshingly subdued as the two competing campaign heads. Gosling continues his stellar year after shining in Crazy. Stupid. Love and Drive. Evan Rachel Wood, who seems to be choosing all the right parts for herself lately, adds to the mix, along with Maria Tomei taking on a somewhat thankless role. Also in the cast is an almost unrecognizable Jeffrey Wright as a former candidate, Max Minghella as a campaign aide and Jennifer Ehle as Morris’ wife. Real life cameos include Chris Matthews and Charlie Rose. (Funny how that phenomenon has become quite commonplace these days.)
Clooney, who is known for his Democratic affiliations, takes a pessimistic, yet truthful take on the political machine. Unlike the similarly themed Primary Colors from 1998, there are no sympathies, only hard truths; Clooney has too much respect for his audience to waste their time. A lot of realities are presented and surprisingly few assumptions are made. There is little hope offered as far as integrity is concerned. And change comes at a price, which ain’t fast or pretty. It’s a sobering look, which challenges audiences to accept how the system works or take responsibility for the system. We can’t expect someone else to provide the answers if we don’t acknowledge and/or like the questions being asked. It’s a tough pill to swallow after a fascinating ride.
Movie Spoiler Summary
In the opening scene, Stephen Meyers (Ryan Gosling) enters an auditorium. At a podium, there is only darkness except a spotlight on him. He delivers an impassioned speech about the constitution being his religion that turns out to be a audio/visual check, as he starts to skip over parts and not take it so seriously as he had when he began. He, along with the campaign team, are preparing for the Ohio Democratic Primary debate with their candidate Governor Mike Morris (George Clooney).
Cut to a few opening credits and various people holding up campaign signs one might see during the political season. Morris is leading in the delegate contest against his democratic opponent Senator Pullman, who, brilliantly, we barely ever see. “As goes Ohio, so goes the nation" and that is the lastest and most pivotal contest. Enter Molly Stearns (Evan Rachel Wood) carrying coffee and various goodies into the debate where Morris speaks the same words once uttered by Steve. She watches the debate on the monitor, while Steve and Morris’ campaign manager Paul Zara (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and Pullman’s campaign manager Tom Duffy (Paul Giamatti) stand in the wings.
The song “We’ll Meet Again” is sung by a singer at the restaurant Steve, Paul and journalist Ida Horowicz (Marisa Tomei) are dining at. They prognosticate the election outcomes and Ida grills Steve about Morris’ next move. Steve rebuffs her and relays how much he believes in his candidate. Ida warns him that he has gone soft and one day Morris will end up disappointing him, which eventually makes her prophetic. Paul tells Ida that a former candidate Senator (a slim Jeffrey Wright) is going to endorse Morris and bestow all of his delegates upon him, which would give Morris enough votes for the nomination, which, after a few twists, ends up being the truth. But, at that moment, the truth is that Paul just doesn’t know yet.
At Morris headquarters, everyone receives their new cell phones. There is gossip about Pullman and Steve discusses dirty politics with various aides. Molly sits in Steve’s office and they discuss dirt that will be rising to the surface. They begin flirting with each other and he inquires whether or not she’s a bearcat (native Cincinnatian). She tells him that she’s an intern from elsewhere. They make plans for later that night before he betrays that he can’t remember her name from a very recent campaign in another state.
Paul meets with Thompson in his home and asks for his delegates, money, endorsement, etc. Things go all too smoothly, yet Paul doesn’t raise an eyebrow. At a meeting with Molly, Steve and another aide Ben (Max Minghella), Morris discusses his education policy. Steve throws out a mandatory two-year service upon graduating high school where the graduate would enter the military, Peace Corp or some other type of service in exchange for a free college education. Morris is initially unsure of committing to such a policy, but eventually relents to Steve’s request to go along with it full force, rather than be cagey about it in front of the public. Steve takes a call from the competing campaign manager Tom, who wants to meet with him.
He leaves a message for Paul before sitting down with Tom. Tom tells him, “You make it look easy,” when he gains people’s respect by getting them "to mistake fear for love." Tom tells Steve that Thompson is on board with Pullman, who had promised Thompson the Secretary of State (SOS) position if he were to get elected. He tries to convince Steve to jump ship and join their team. Steve speaks of his alliance to Paul. Tom’s response is, “Do you want to work for the friend or do you want to work for the president?” Afterwards, Steve speaks with Paul, in need of Quaaludes, over the phone, but does not disclose who he has just met with.
Morris sits in a makeup chair in preparation for his interview with Charlie Rose, while Steve and Ben crunch numbers. Steve and Molly have their bar date. She reveals that her father is the head of the DNC, Jack Stearns (Gregory Itzin). They take the campaign bus to the Millennium Hotel where they have sex. The next morning, they watch TV. On the phone with Paul, Steve refers to Molly as “the cleaning lady.” He tells him that Thompson didn’t endorse Morris. On the plan leaving Cincinnati Airport, Morris inquires to Steve how the campaign is going. Steve doesn’t answer the question truthfully and Morris tells him that’s what he has Paul for.
Morris delivers a speech at Kent State. Behind the scenes, Steve confesses to Paul about his meeting with Tom, not omitting any detail. He tells him that Pullman offered Thompson the SOS position. Paul doesn’t handle the situation well as Morris hits every note in his speech. Paul tells Steve to set up a meeting with the three of them. At the meeting in a band room, Molly walks in. Paul insists Morris offer Thompson SOS to wrangle him back into their camp. Morris says he doesn’t want to compromise. Steve, Paul, Ben and Molly work on strategizing for an Ohio victory. In the back of the limo with his wife Cindy (the suddenly ubiquitous Jennifer Ehle), she asks him about a dinner with Mrs. Mitchell before inquiring about giving Thompson the delegates, at Steve's prodding. He informs her that once he starts drawing a line in the sand, it will just be the beginning.
During a Town Hall meeting, Ben walks towards the stage while Morris is engaged in conversation with a participant. Later, everybody takes the bus to their next location in Ohio. Molly flirts with Steve and they have sex in a hotel room during a Town Hall meeting at Dayton Community College. They laugh and he ends up working on his computer. Later that night, he takes a call on Molly’s phone by accident. It’s Morris (though we don’t quite know that right away). She wakes up and, against her wishes, he calls the number back. It was the governor. She makes a confession that on a night at a party in Iowa with Ben, she went up to the Governor’s room to deliver some documents and ended up sleeping with him. She got pregnant and had called him recently for $900 to get an abortion (she couldn’t dare ask her Catholic father). That is why Morris was calling her back.
The next day at headquarters, Steve enters and passes Molly. He sits for a couple of moments before finally taking his jacket off. Ben enters his office and Steve asks him for some petty cash, off the books. He calls in Molly and tells her to meet him in the stairwell at noon. He goes to the bank before getting a call from Ida. She knows all about his meeting with Tom, but won’t reveal her sources. She grills him for more information. He doesn’t oblige her and she gives him a deadline. Steve calls Tom, who denies speaking to her (leaving Paul as the only other suspect, which somehow doesn't dawn on Steve). As Steve watches press assembling, Tom reopens his offer. Steve turns him down and meets Molly in the stairwell as planned. He gives her twice the amount she needed and takes her off the campaign. Ben, Molly and Steve work in the hotel room. Ida calls him as he waits to pick Molly up. They drive to the clinic and he tells her that he’ll be back to pick her up later.
Paul is in his hotel room and Steve arrives. With Ben in the room, Paul tells Steve that he met with Duffy. He was the one who leaked it to Ida (which is obvious at this point). He fires Steve and tells him a story about his loyalty to a small-time candidate, Sam, back when he was starting out in Kentucky. In essence, Paul, aside from Molly, ends up being the only 'good guy' in this movie; they both end up finishing last (he will lose his job and Molly will die.)
At the clinic, a nurse gives Molly meds. Steve doesn’t show up to pick her up and she walks to a diner. By the time he drives by, it has gotten late. Ben tells Molly about the firing and that he now has his job. He expresses to Molly that Steve is going to unleash a wealth of dirt to the press. Steve enters Pullman headquarters and tells Tom that he’s in and quit the Morris campaign, promising juicy information to Tom. Tom knows Steve was fired and doesn’t need him anymore. This was a mistake on Tom's part, as he would have gotten Pullman elected by taking Steve on. According to Tom, the only thing better than the Pullman campaign having Steve was the Morris campaign not having Steve. It was a win/win situation for Tom. He knew Paul would fire him if Steve were to disclose their meeting and not jump onto the Pullman wagon. Steve drives to the hotel and knocks on Molly’s door. There is a man calling for an emergency as her dead body lies next to the bed. She overdosed on the medication. He spots her cell phone and presumably takes it.
In his car, he listens to the messages on his phone, which include a couple of frantic calls from Molly before she killed herself. Along a river, he meets with Senator Thompson, who apparently believes he still works for the Morris campaign. Steve negotiates with him about the delegates. Morris holds a press conference on Molly’s death. While Paul fields questions from reporters, Morris receives a call from Molly’s phone. It’s Steve. He looks up and they look at each other square in the eyes. They meet at a deserted bar, where Steve threatens Morris with a claim he has a note of hers revealing everything. Morris calls his bluff and questions why he was even at the hotel to begin with. He also tells him he knows it was Steve who answered her phone the night he accidentally took Morris’ call on her phone.
Paul gets a haircut, who, afterwards, is met by Morris’ Chevrolet. He enters the vehicle and they discuss matters for a short time, while the audience watches the parked vehicle. Paul leaves the vehicle. He has been fired. On Chris Matthews, he has nothing but good things to say about Morris, as well as Steve. At the funeral for Molly, her father delivers a heartfelt eulogy. Steve and Paul are both there (Morris is absent) and speak afterwards. At a rally, Thompson speaks before Morris, with wife Cindy by his side. In a jubilant cry, he requests all of his delegates move into Morris’ camp. A new girl delivers the coffee in a much similar way to the introductory shot of Molly at the beginning of the film. Morris speaks. Steve enters the control room, where the new intern introduces herself to Ben. Ida catches Steve. Having misreported matters on Thompson, she asks Steve for a deeper scoop, as she has egg on her face. Ida: "Steven, aren’t we friend anymore?" Steve: "You’re my best friend Ida." Steve, who now has the upper-hand shoves the pull of his power right into Ida’s face, who, so recently, was at the other end of the table and made the wrong gamble. Steve walks into a dark, empty stadium. There is an audio-visual team there and while at first it may appear that Steve is prepping the surroundings for Governor Morris, he is actually being interviewed. Steve is changed man and now he plays for keeps.
Box Office Outlook
This is a pretty slick political thriller. So, I’m guessing audiences won’t take to it. Or maybe they will and then it will have a huge drop-off after opening weekend. This is the kind of film that seems like it would benefit from a platform release, an exercise Hollywood seems to be slowly abandoning. The movie rests on Ryan Gosling’s shoulders. If Drive is any indication, they’re not going to see Ides just to watch him. Crazy. Stupid. Love did pretty well, but it was an ensemble piece. Even if he was the main-selling point, it was a romantic comedy-lighter fare. I honestly have trouble calling Ides. I could see it being a hit, catching steam and crossing the $100M. But, then, I can see audiences being so fed up by politics in the news, that they won’t show up for this. It would be a shame. Adults are going to need something to see in the coming weeks, though, after they’ve watched Moneyball. $50M total is my guess. Let’s hope I’m lowballing it. But, my more cynical side says I’m looking for a homerun behind second base when the batter just hit a foul ball.
Oscar Predictions
If it ends up being a hit, it could sweep up nominations in several categories, Best Actor (Gosling), a couple of Best Supporting Actor nods (Hoffman, even Giamatti maybe). While the AMPAS nominate Marisa Tomei every ten years or so, it’s still a little to early for her fourth nod, and she probably won’t get a nomination with so few scenes. Evan Rachel Wood, however, stands a slight shot. BP, director Clooney, screenplay, editing. I would hope cinematography and art direction, but I doubt it.
The reality: the Best Actor category is tough. I don’t see Gosling in it. I would say Hoffman stands the best chance at a nomination, but I’m thinking it won’t happen. It may get into a BP Field of Ten, but with the new rules, it’s hard to see if that will definitely happen. The only sure thing to me is an adapted screenplay nomination. Hell, it could even win that category. It deserves so much more, though.
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Who won the election?
ReplyDeleteThe movie never gets there. Morris won the Democratic nomination at the jubilant convention. I imagine he probably did win the general election, but it didn't seem to matter.
ReplyDeleteThe movie was all about purporting to be one thing, while using contradicting methods, all in the name of victory and the opportunity to implement one's virtuous ideas. The implication is that if one has to compromise their integrity in order to get into office, the likelihood of making good on their promises drops tremendously.
It doesn't cover any new territory here, but it's fairly engrossing and entertaining. I highly recommend it.
Thank for this pot. I saw the movie, and I like it, but I have a couple doubts. Maybe they are explained in the book but I havent read it:
ReplyDeletea) Who was scaping from Molly´s room. When Steven arrives to her hotel he saw somebody. And for me it seems like he was coming out of her room, and it is not quite clear the murder option.
b) Why is Morris the last name of the girl who delivers the coffee at the end? Why they show this at the end?
Thanks, and sorry for my english.
The guy coming out of molly's room is just a cop, and that is why steven looks afraid and curious.
DeleteAnd the name of the girl, Morris, has nothing to do and its not related with the governor. She actually says it in the film
Ides of March was a well-made film. The cast and the acting was excellent. I see Ryan Gosling as one who wants to be an idealist, however knows politics is a dirty game.
ReplyDeleteThe movie is about Power & its abuse. What makes this such a good film is how true to life it is. Ryan Gosling continues to shine on the screen.