The Ides of March

[seriousfic]

I really tried to like this movie, but it had some of the silliest storytelling decisions I've ever seen in an "cerebral" thriller.

1. If you're going to have an Obama figure in your story, right down to a take-off on the iconic poster, can he please be black?

2. The presidential candidate, as played by actor George Clooney and directed by director George Clooney, is such a Mary Sue. It's not just that he's a politician who looks like the sexiest man in the world while most everyone else is dowdy. It's not just that he's against the death penalty, but would kill any man who killed his wife and then serve jail time for it. It's that all the time, scenes are buttoned or opened with the worst kind of Aaron Sorkin "here's a Hollywood screenwriter's thoughts on politics" scenes. Just for minutes on end, you get Presidential Candidate George Clooney going on about gay marriage or whatever, and these things are not plot points and do nothing to reveal character or progress the plot. They have one scene with Ryan Gosling and Marisa Tomei that establishes George Clooney is the Great White Hope. They don't need to harp on it, but they do, over and over again, and it comes off as self-indulgent. There's even one scene where Ryan Gosling is having this really tense conversation with Philip Seymour Hoffman, and in the middle of it, they cut to Clooney going on about hydrogen cars.

I guess maybe they're just trying to produce Democrat wank material? "Hey, here's Danny Ocean talking about how he's against the Iraqi War!" But in that case, why not cast a black man as the Obama figure, since you're not trying to appeal to those racist Republicans anyway? Oh wait, I forgot, racism is over. So we can just cast white guys as people who are clearly meant to be black and it's fine.

3. This movie has the cheesiest scene ever in a cynical political thriller. The other candidate's campaign manager meets with Ryan Gosling and tells him about all the dirty tricks he's going to use to win Ohio. And, with an aghast look on his face, Gosling goes "But Democrats never use dirty politics! You're acting like a Republican!"



It would've been more believable if he said "You're using the Dark Side of the Force, like those Sith Lords at the GOP!" You know, as long as they're writing a magical adventure of whimsy and delight, not a political thriller for adults.

Comments

[colonel-green.livejournal.com]

The George Clooney character certainly has had Obama-ish elements mixed in, but he's not actually just an Obama proxy. The film is based on a play that predates Obama's campaign; it's about Howard Dean's 2004 candidacy.

[seriousfic.livejournal.com]

I'd say they really played him as Obama in this movie, so they either should've backed off that or cast a black actor.

[colonel-green.livejournal.com]

I don't see that, personally. They certainly incorporated some aspects of Obama's campaign into the narrative, but it's not that different from Dean's campaign, and obviously since Obama is in office people will be more likely to think of him. Morris is just the "liberal dream candidate", a mantle that Obama took up from Dean.