Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Tax the Rich

Movie Monday

(Note: Edited at 5pm for silly grammar mistakes. I hope I caught them all.)

I've pretty much given up on Hollywood movies and I'm using "Hollywood" in a generic sense: big budget, no-brainer, big box-office. That's why I'm doubly disappointed when I come across a non-CGI, thoughtful, political flick which is just awash in missed opportunities.

I'm talking about The Ides of March in which George Clooney has a starring role and  directed and wrote so much of the blame must lay at his doorstep.

How would I describe TIOM? Well-photographed, slickly written (for a while), miscast in at least one pivotal role and dull.

But first, let me sing its praise. Loved Marisa Tomei. She owns any scene she's in whether it's explaining the facts of politics to Ryan Gosling's Stephen (even though it was such a unnecessary scene since Gosling had just told her he was a veteran of far too many political campaigns but apparently he still needed a primer on "how it works"'; just sloppy plotting) or holding her own with the likes of  Phillip Seymour Hoffmann. The movie lights up every time Hoffmann is on the scene, which isn't often enough. Hoffmann is probably the consummate character actor (which is why he won the Oscar for Capote since Truman Capote was always a walking "character.") Whether it was his short bit in Cold Mountain or the cranky coach in Moneyball, he's a pleasure to watch. And finally, Paul Giamatti, wasted in a small role as Tom Duffy, a rival campaign manager, but, as always with him, he's not phoning in his acting.

Which brings me to Ryan Gosling. Rumor is that Peter Jackson let him go as the father in The Lovely Bones and then went on to make a lousy picture. Here, Clooney kept him and went on to make a lousy picture. Most of the time, dull films can spread the blame but here I think the casting of Gosling in such a pivotal role was a big mistake. I'm assuming Clooney was going for "Clooney" with this role in that he, as an actor, can convey a lot with silence and facial expressions. Gosling, unfortunately, can not. We begin the movie with Gosling passively spouting phrases while testing the mike for an upcoming debate and, whether with directorial approval or that's just the way he acts, Gosling's Stephen plays the whole movie in a passive state of blank/near blank expressions.

And in doing so, he allows the most grievous sin in "thinking" movies to occur: we just don't connect. We watch but we don't care. 

Now while I believe Gosling was miscast, he has to also carry a stall plot; not only a well tread and much better tread plot (The Candidate) but one that, by the end, if I didn't know Clooney's political persuasions I would have thought was really written by the right to demonize liberal ideas.

And what is the plot, you ask? Clooney, as Governor Mike Morris of PA, is one of the last two candidates standing at the end of the Democratic primary race for the presidency. The all important Ohio primary is the last stumbling block and he is pitted against a right leaning candidate. This is an important race because we hear Clooney spout some really progressive ideas (free college for two years of mandatory government service) while his opponent tries to pin him down on acceptance of the Bible. 

 Morris has standards. He counters his opponent with "I'm not a Christian. I'm not an Atheist. I'm not Jewish. I'm not Muslim. My religion, what I believe in is called the Constitution of United States of America." He refuses to compromise and get an over-the-top number of delegates released from a former candidate because he wants, in return, the Secretary of State position. To paraphrase, Morris says he not giving that position to a guy who "wants to lob off 10 stories of the UN." So we're told that we are dealing with a progressive, principled candidate; a man of honor; a family man of honor with a loving wife and an 11 year old daughter.

And then Evan Rachel Wood steps up to play her pivotal role as Molly and everything lands in the sewer; for the governor and for us. For what could have been, should have been, a verbally slick look at American politics and the mutation of ideals, becomes HE SLEPT WITH THE INTERN! We then must watch, but never feel, the angst and betrayal Gosling experiences as he is, in unison, banging and helping Wood, salvaging Clooney's chances and fast-tracking his own rise in influence.

Which is all such a hackneyed plot, but having said that, also a plot which very good acting and pacing might have saved. You have neither here. As someone at IMDb said, the laconic pace of business at Clooney's campaign headquarters just a few days before the Ohio primary (the ides of March) is laughable. Add to this, the unbelievability of Wood as Molly the 20-year old intern. Molly, who has only one fling with the Gov after "he reached around and closed the door" is played neither "here nor there." Meaning: Molly is presented straight up as a sexual player but also as the young intern who would never make trouble as she tells Steve repeatedly. So she knows the ropes but doesn't know how to say "No" to the Gov. Her appearance and situation in the movie is really the ultimate MacGuffin: she's there to move the plot along.

I said earlier that I could almost believe this was a "right-wing" script for we're really presented with the archetypal Republican meme: Those liberals, what hypocrites. So what coulda/shoulda been a thoughtful political drama of power and corruption ends up taking the easy, well-travelled road. Which still might have worked in a hackneyed, enjoyable way but not with Gosling as Stephen nor probably Wood as Molly.

 And finally, I'll leave you with my crime stopper tip which comes from too many hours of watching Gil Grissom's character (love William Peterson) in CSI: Las Vegas. When you have a plot point of a character dying from overdosing on pain killers which you see the abortion clinic handing to her in the scene before, just removing her cell phone secretively from the room (has her calls to the Gov on it) is not enough. If you leave the pill bottles you are leaving information on prescribing MD and pharmacy which is very easily traced. Additionally, if  CSI Dr. Robbins performs an autopsy, no way is that day before abortion going to go undetected. Hey! I might have been knitting intricate lace while watching that show, but I listened!

 Last puzzle: What was the point of ending the movie with another young female intern arriving? Were they going for the ending of All About Eve?

 So finally, bottom line: Bright promise wasted.