George Clooney plays a governor who is running for President. He is one of two serious candidates for the Democratic nomination. He is a bit too good to be true. He is adamant about the standard liberal issues and won't back down on them. Ryan Gosling plays his number two man along with campaign manager Philip Seymour Hoffman. One day Gosling makes a serious error. He goes to see the campaign manager of the other candidate. This is an absolute no no. His head is on the block. During this time he has a quick tryst with the daughter of the Democratic National Committee. She gives him a bit of information that could throw things into the septic system. Meanwhile, he is fired. Wanting his job back, he acts. This is really dirty politics and probably the kind of thing that is done behind the scenes all the time. Not a great political drama, but still very engaging.

Ides of March due to the cast primarily was one of my to-see movies this year. And it lived up to expectations. Ides of March mayn't be exactly new in terms of concept and the odd scene in the first half drags, however I think with the high quality of the film no matter whether it makes you feel good or not, though Ides of March is not that type of movie, you do feel rewarded by the end.

Ides of March is a well-made film, the scenery throughout is very striking and the cinematography and George Clooney's direction show lots of skill. The film also has a hypnotic score by Alexandre Desplat, a clever and purposefully cynical script, sharp and well-defined characters(particularly Gosling's, Giamatti's and Hoffmann's) and a compelling moral-driven story.

Ides of March has a terrific cast, not just Clooney, whose performance and character are very powerful, but also an appropriately rough-edged Marissa Tomei and a splendid Evan Rachel Wood. Not to mention brilliant turns from the consistently great Paul Giamatti and Phillip Seymour Hoffmann and the quietly confident and completely enthralling performance of Ryan Gosling.

I would also like to mention Ides of March's final shot, to me it is one of 2011's most effective final shots. Overall, maybe not for all, but really there are so many things I feel to be impressed by. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Stephen Meyers (Ryan Gosling) is the assistant manager of Democratic Governor Mike Morris's (George Clooney) presidential campaign. Paul Zara (Philip Seymour Hoffman) is the campaign manager. Tom Duffy (Paul Giamatti) the opponent's campaign manager meets up with Stephen Meyers and offers him a job. Eventually the meeting is discovered. In the meanwhile, Meyers has been sleeping with an intern Molly Stearns (Evan Rachel Wood) who reveals a shocking secret.

This story seems old fashion. They talk about 3-4% as if it's rock solid. There's no real talk about internet or 3rd party involvement. It's all very 1999. Morris' speeches are filled with big unimportant things. They never seem to be real people talk. The whole first half is a sad iteration of liberal fantasy talk and inside political wrangling. When it turns, it's already 45 minutes in and too late. They needed to cut at least half of that time out. All the BS speeches need to go. I think it's suppose to show how idealistic Meyers was at the start which is really sad. To think that the second in command of a presidential candidate could be so naive even in Ohio. It's really sad.