Review: The Ides Of March

The title may reference a date in March, but the everyone involved clearly has a certain date in February on their mind, delivering their best acting performance to woo voters. Gosling and Clooney may be on the poster, but the clash of the titans is the battle between Philip Seymour Hoffman and Paul Giamatti to see who can deliver the best performance of a grizzled campaign manager.

The obvious comparison is with Sorkin's The West Wing and thanks to a much a slower pace alongside a much gloomier visual style & theme, The Ides Of March doesn't always feel like it lives up to its esteemed predecessor - a feeling not helped by a conclusion that leaves you wondering if that much actually happened during the film.

The problem isn't that The Ides Of March is bad, its just that it doesn't live up to its potential and the all-star cast it boasts.