Wonder of wonders. I was prepared to beware The Ides Of March, George Clooney's most recent effort. I am not a fan of the fairy tale, utopian political views that ooze from too many of his films, and was resigned to wasting yet another pittance for the privilege of being annoyed, insulted and riled once again. We otherwise self reliant right wingers seem to be so starved for meritorious entertainment that we repeatedly fork over our hard-earned bucks for the privilege of being serially humiliated by Hollywood's limousine lefties. So it was with resolute heart and jutting chin that I cringed and endured the initial, ritual swipes at the mean old Republicans.
It began so badly that my usually sedate and restrained spouse was heard to yell "hope and change" during Clooney's delivery of an Obama-clone campaign speech, replete with many of the signature, expertly deceptive, liberal bromides. Then came a few unsuccessful and amateurish contrivances to explain implausible character motivations and I was seriously considering the lure of the exit sign and a righteously indignant demand for the return of my admission fee. But patience prevailed and the plot and script began to improve.
The end result is a taut and entertaining adventure into political intrigue, backstabbing and gamesmanship topped off with the perfect maraschino cherry, if not entirely satisfying, ending. But the big surprise to me was not the quality of the product. Clooney, despite his dyslexic politics, is a talented and versatile actor, capable of selecting commendable scripts. No, the big and most welcome surprise of Ides is the fact that Clooney appears in and co-writes a movie in which the despicably irredeemable scalawags are actually the Democrats! Go figure. I can now recommend without hesitation, reservation, nor purpose of evasion, that Ides be nominated for the Oscar for best, and most accurate, documentary of the year.
It began so badly that my usually sedate and restrained spouse was heard to yell "hope and change" during Clooney's delivery of an Obama-clone campaign speech, replete with many of the signature, expertly deceptive, liberal bromides. Then came a few unsuccessful and amateurish contrivances to explain implausible character motivations and I was seriously considering the lure of the exit sign and a righteously indignant demand for the return of my admission fee. But patience prevailed and the plot and script began to improve.
The end result is a taut and entertaining adventure into political intrigue, backstabbing and gamesmanship topped off with the perfect maraschino cherry, if not entirely satisfying, ending. But the big surprise to me was not the quality of the product. Clooney, despite his dyslexic politics, is a talented and versatile actor, capable of selecting commendable scripts. No, the big and most welcome surprise of Ides is the fact that Clooney appears in and co-writes a movie in which the despicably irredeemable scalawags are actually the Democrats! Go figure. I can now recommend without hesitation, reservation, nor purpose of evasion, that Ides be nominated for the Oscar for best, and most accurate, documentary of the year.