The Ides of March (Clooney, 2011)

A young campaign media strategist is brought down by the ugly realities of political mudwrestling.

There is something very straightforward about this movie. I liked how Gosling's character went from a certain naivety to a cold-blooded revenge strategist where it seems that most hope is lost for his soul. The film kept me pretty entertained for its running time, but in the end it seemed just a bit unclear for me, what I should feel about the whole thing - I just couldn't get involved enough with the characters.

What I also realized that apart from Gosling's lead all the other characters were given rather flat and slightly uninspired roles (Paul Gamatti is a great adversary though) - all the actors worked great, but their character quirks could have been made much funnier. The realistic touch that the film tries to keep so hard also distanced me from the emotional turmoils of the actual participants.

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