George Clooney’s fourth film as a director takes us to territory not unexpected of the man: behind the scenes of a modern American political campaign. Clooney acts too, although his role as Governor Morris, an Obama-lite politician striving to win a primary that will set him on the road to the White House, is mostly ceremonial, decorative even, but only because the story, adapted by Clooney and others from a Beau Willimon play, demands it. The real drama lies with the puppeteers: Morris’s press spokesman Stephen (Ryan Gosling) is being wooed by a rival campaign manager (Paul Giamatti), while a hungry intern (Evan Rachel Wood) is making eyes at Stephen over the photocopier.

The points made about politics by The Ides of March are valid, if obvious: shit goes on behind the scenes and people in the game are shits. Who knew? Yet it’s good on the value of knowledge in political circles – and how that knowledge can be traded. There’s a dullness to the film’s edges that means it’s not cutting enough, and a late lunge for noir stylings is weak, even if all involved do their best to stress the horrible gulf between public ideals and private ambition.

Dave Calhoun

From Time Out London

Dir George Clooney Category IIB, 101 mins, opens on Feb 2