Lend Me Your Ears

The Ides of March

*** out of ****

Directed by: George Clooney

Starring: Ryan Gosling, Philip Seymour Hoffman, George Clooney, Evan Rachel Wood and Paul Giamatti

Running time: 101 minutes

The Ides of March refers to the date when, in 44 B.C., a group of Roman conspirators stabbed and killed their king, Julius Caesar.

Political intrigue was plentiful in the year Caesar fell, as well as in the late 15th century, when Shakespeare put ink to parchment and wrote one of his greatest tragedies. The times haven’t changed very much. In George Clooney’s latest drama, the constant media attention and scrutiny of potential presidential candidates ensures that any person in the running has much to beware.

The battle in this Coliseum, though, is between two Democrat hopefuls for the White House: the idealistic Gov. Mike Morris (Clooney) and Sen. Pullman (Michael Mantell). They are facing off in the Ohio primary, which could be a game-changer for each candidate if they win. As one character remarks, “This primary is the presidential.”

Nobody knows the pressure needed to win more than Morris’s campaign managers, the powerful Paul Zara (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and his suave and idealistic protégé, Stephen Meyers (Ryan Gosling). Stephen is “married to the campaign,” and so attached to his candidate’s zeal and drive for change that his middle name might as well be “Hubris.”

Although Morris is ahead in the polls and a likely endorsement from a popular senator (Jeffrey Wright) will only guarantee him more votes, a rival campaigner (Paul Giamatti) has a few tricks ready for the primary date that could shake up the election.

The Ides of March doesn’t navigate alongside Morris—although there is plenty of George Clooney shouting left-wing rhetoric, if that gets you off. (An oft-seen campaign poster featuring the character blatantly resembles Shepard Fairey’s iconic “Hope” design). Instead, the film follows Stephen as tries to keep a tight race from getting out of control when he makes a few pivotal blunders, one involving an office intern (Evan Rachel Wood) whose father is the head of the Democratic Convention.

Gosling is sharp in the role, and like he did in his excellent performances this year (in Drive and Crazy Stupid Love), he lets his face do much of the talking. Rounding out the ensemble, Hoffman and Giamatti’s supporting work is as fiery as we’ve come to expect from their immense talents, while Marisa Tomei and Jeffrey Wright do well in walk-on roles.

Since the film, based off of the play Farragut North by Beau Willimon, tends to closely align itself with Shakespeare’s revered text, one shouldn’t be surprised to find that there are loyalties, betrayals and dramatic ironies to spare on screen.

But watching the film isn’t too different from watching a play. The camera is static, the dialogue crackles, and the only form of conversation seem to be in two- or three-person settings. Considering that the stakes are not low in Ohio, Clooney should have racheted up more tension and delved deeper into the characters (he adapted the script with Willimon and Grant Heslov).

The Ides of March may go down smooth with a snappy script, elevated by the virtues of the film’s ensemble. But when you attempt to parallel history, as well as Shakespeare, with your title change, one wishes Clooney’s ambition was made of sterner stuff.

(500) Days of Bummer

50/50

**1/2 out of ****

Directed by: Jonathan Levine

Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen, Anna Kendrick, Bryce Dallas Howard and Anjelica Huston

Running time: 99 minutes

It’s not easy to make a comedy centering around a young cancer patient; frankly, if Judd Apatow couldn’t pull off the balance between humour and humanity in Funny People, then you’re unlikely to find a writer or director that gets the formula right.

In comparison to Apatow’s film, Jonathan Levine’s 50/50 isn’t much of an improvement. It should have the humanity, since its scribe Will Reiser based the film off of his own misery when he was diagnosed with cancer. But 50/50 isn’t brave enough to tread these into darker waters given the subject matter and mainly tries to deal with the cancer aspects through broad comedy. This is a film that unfortunately deals with sorrow in a manner that is crass, sarcastic, and bereft of much pathos.

The Reiser figure is 27-year-old Adam Lerner, and he’s played by one of the best young actors of our generation, Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Adam is harmless: he doesn’t have the will to stand up to his boss at a public radio station, he doesn’t jaywalk while jogging alongside an empty road, and he puts up with a caniving girlfriend, Rachael (Bryce Dallas Howard) and a crass best friend, Kyle (Seth Rogen).

But when Adam learns of a mass in his spine and the iffy heads-tails odds that he will survive with the tumour, the foundations of his life begin to crumble. His mother (Anjelica Huston, sadly underused) begins to infringe on his spare time and his new therapist, Katherine (Anna Kendrick), is a grad trainee with good intentions but inept precision in dealing with human psychology. Meanwhile, Rachael and Kyle have less compassion for Adam and only worry about how his diagnosis will affect them.

Several of the characters in 50/50 are not on the same page as Adam. Some use him and his condition to pick up women (Kyle) or go further in their medical career (Katherine). The same could be said for the film, which uses the cancer as more of a background toward comedy sketch-like ideas than for serious, dramatic insight.

The film doesn’t handle the disease all too seriously. While Reiser’s script aims to use humour as a therapeutic element to help be optimistic about a grave subject, the comedy—which extends from the stoner realm to frank, sexual dialogue in a manner of minutes—often misses the mark. Levity should only be used sparingly, but many of Seth Rogen’s obnoxious comedy antics overwhelm the subject matter to the extent that the film becomes far too silly far too often.

The only sections where 50/50 works is when it focuses on the depths of Adam's dismay, as he battles with the malignant tumour. The final third of the film, when he confronts the possibility of a soon death, is heartbreaking and refreshingly true. Here, Gordon-Levitt is allowed to broadcast a wide range of emotions, as he slowly turns embittered toward those around him.

50/50 only works, appropriately, half of the time. When it focuses on Adam’s psychological motivations and feelings, it’s an extraordinarily honest film. Unfortunately, the comedy elements are not used as a means to confront the pain, but deter Adam’s story from moving forward. It seems that laughter is not always the best medicine.