The Ides of March
Columbia Pictures | Release Date: October 7, 2011 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
67
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 43 Critic Reviews
Positive:
31
Mixed:
12
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaOct 6, 2011
This taut cautionary tale explores the dark side of American politics. And leaves the viewer to wonder - if anyone's still wondering - is there a bright side? Read full review
91
Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanOct 5, 2011
Clooney certainly brings out the best in his actors, but his driving trait as a filmmaker is that he knows what plays - he has an uncanny sense of how to uncork a scene and let it bubble and flow. Read full review
88
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottOct 7, 2011
Both taut and satisfyingly relevant, it presents a portrait of a compromised elections system -- one that should give the left wing, the right wing and the fringe-dwelling nutjobs something they can all agree on. Namely: We're in deep doo-doo. Read full review
88
Rolling StonePeter TraversOct 6, 2011
A big, bruisingly funny moral fable etched in acid and Obama disillusion. Read full review
88
Orlando SentinelRoger MooreOct 5, 2011
It isn't a great film. But it is a smart and high-minded one, wonderfully cast, with understated direction. Clooney is good enough in the lead to stir talk of a political future. Read full review
88
ObserverRex ReedOct 5, 2011
A cynical, polished and deeply disturbing look at the kind of camera-ready liberal dreamboy who gets elected in 60-second sound bites, it is one of the most important films of the year. Read full review
88
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliOct 4, 2011
This is a deeply cynical movie and, in that cynicism, it finds truth. Read full review
83
Portland OregonianMarc MohanOct 6, 2011
A harsh self-examination of the cynicism that has crept into every cranny of the political landscape. As such, it's absolutely a story of our times. Read full review
83
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallOct 5, 2011
As a director, Clooney makes his most straightforward movie yet, although it's static at times due to the stage origins of Willimon's material. Read full review
83
IndieWireEric KohnSep 10, 2011
The title suggests a dramatic Shakespearean twist, but Clooney's aims are much simpler. As he builds to a western showdown divorced from political specificity, the Manchurian-like manipulation turns Ides of March into an allegorical monster movie in which everyone's competing for the role of the monster and most people can't see it. Read full review
80
MovielineStephanie ZacharekOct 6, 2011
The Ides of March doesn't cut as deeply or as sharply as Clooney might like, but at least he found the right actor to navigate its dark emotional twists and turns. Read full review
80
SalonAndrew O'HehirOct 6, 2011
An ingenious construction, much cleverer in psychological and symbolic terms than the story it tells, which mixes a schematic thriller and an on-the-nose fable about the corruption of American politics. Read full review
80
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzOct 5, 2011
Some elements of the film are too melodramatic, but there's not a bad performance in it -- look at the cast and that's not surprising -- and Gosling is outstanding. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenOct 5, 2011
Ranks as one of the season's most intelligent and polished films. Read full review
75
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerOct 7, 2011
The film is actually fairly entertaining once you get past its overweening desire to be the bearer of bad tidings. A more adventuresome movie would have treated the down-and-dirty world of politics as its starting, not its ending, point. Read full review
75
New York PostLou LumenickOct 7, 2011
It's not up to the high standard of the Clooney-Heslov script for "Good Night, and Good Luck,'' or what you'd imagine that, say, Aaron Sorkin could have done with this premise (for starters, sharper dialogue). Or what Elaine May did with the similarly themed "Primary Colors" 13 years ago. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleOct 6, 2011
There is no point in discounting smart, engrossing entertainment like The Ides of March, though it's hard not to notice when a film that could have been great falls short. Read full review
75
USA TodayClaudia PuigOct 6, 2011
Political scandals are standard movie fare, and this one, which hinges on sex and power, doesn't offer a new take. But that's the point: The all-too-familiar blend of hubris and lust for power makes the machinations no less poisonous and perhaps more regrettable for their sad predictability. Read full review
75
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe WilliamsOct 6, 2011
If you want to see a great movie about a political campaign, starring the smartest heartthrob of his era, rent "The Candidate." If you want see a very good one, buy a ticket for The Ides of March. Read full review
75
Charlotte ObserverLawrence ToppmanOct 6, 2011
Ides can't be said to enlighten any but the naive, and it's not likely to shock us into positive political action So what pleasure can we get from this movie? Quite a bit, as it happens. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsOct 6, 2011
I would see The Ides of March again just for the way Jeffrey Wright takes command of the screen in the secondary role of a senator who is either a cipher, a sphinx, a two-faced sphinx, a lying sack of D.C. dung or a steely man of principle. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldRene RodriguezOct 6, 2011
Gosling continues to prove he may the best actor of his generation. His performance in The Ides of March, following his comedic turn in "Crazy, Stupid Love" and his portrayal of a stoic loner in "Drive," proves this actor is capable of practically anything. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertOct 5, 2011
The movie's strength is in the acting, with Gosling once again playing a character with an insistent presence. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineJaime N. ChristleyOct 5, 2011
Clooney's films as director often begin with a familiar point A and conclude at a less-familiar point B, deriving much of their interest from the circuitous path required to navigate the shift. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderJ.R. JonesOct 6, 2011
Clooney directed with an actor's appetite for vivid star turns, and he certainly gets them from Ryan Gosling, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Paul Giamatti. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterDeborah YoungSep 10, 2011
Classy and professional throughout, the technical work gracefully holds all the threads together. Read full review
70
TimeRichard CorlissSep 10, 2011
The Ides of March says that American politics, no less than Italian, is a beachfront property with sharks surfing the waves. That makes this skeptical, savory movie a fitting offering from Hollywood's suavest ambassador to Venice and the world. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubNoel MurraySep 10, 2011
The Ides Of March goes down easily, with a sophisticated bustle and a strong third act twist to test the hero's mettle. But it all feels a bit inconsequential - perhaps by design. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick GroenOct 7, 2011
Initially, the quick dialogue and strong cast obscure, at least partly, the fact that the plot is itself a dirty trick, a bit of a con game. Once the deception is seen through, the movie ends up inadvertently mimicking its subject matter: Like politics, it too leaves you disillusioned. Read full review
63
Washington PostAnn HornadayOct 6, 2011
The Ides of March is cynical when, with political figures and institutions at all-time lows in public opinion, cynicism is the last thing we need; worse, that cynicism isn't spiked with any new or incisive insight. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeTy BurrOct 6, 2011
The filmmaking is shallow but assured, the star charisma thoughtful but undimmed. As for the character, I'd vote for Mike Morris. Actually, I wish I could. Read full review
60
EmpireAngie ErrigoOct 24, 2011
Entertaining while you're watching it but, as deceptive as a party's election promises, there's less to it than meets the eye. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanOct 6, 2011
He's (Clooney) got the makings of a great movie here: one that represents our politically surreal times with keen insight and appropriate cynicism. It's only when he veers off the path, suddenly worried he'll lose our attention, that he falters. Read full review
60
Time OutJoshua RothkopfOct 4, 2011
Philip Seymour Hoffman and a ratlike Paul Giamatti are the competing spin doctors - you wish the whole movie were about them. And Marisa Tomei brings a hungry sense of scoopmaking to the (unavoidable?) role of a New York Times journalist who's seen it all. Read full review
60
Boxoffice MagazineSara Maria VizcarrondoSep 10, 2011
Surprisingly, George Clooney's direction is somewhat underwhelming with crucial conversations oddly lacking in tension. Read full review
50
SlateDana StevensOct 6, 2011
Despite across-the-board bravura performances (especially by Philip Seymour Hoffman and Paul Giamatti as dueling campaign managers), The Ides of March somehow remains static and lifeless, like a civics-class diorama. Read full review
50
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternOct 6, 2011
That's one of the puzzles of this piece. You'd think a film with talent to burn - would provide some electrifying encounters at the very least. No such luck. Words fly, some of them medium-witty, but lightning doesn't strike. Read full review
50
The New York TimesA.O. ScottOct 6, 2011
Somehow, the film is missing both adrenaline and gravity, notwithstanding some frantic early moments and a late swerve toward tragedy. It makes its points carefully and unimpeachably but does not bring much in the way of insight or risk. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranOct 6, 2011
Even though all the supporting elements of a superior film are here, the actual plot that everything is at the service of is disappointing. The texture of reality and the sheen of fine craft disguise this for a while, but not forever. Read full review
50
Village VoiceKarina LongworthOct 4, 2011
Compelling enough as a methodic moral inquiry, a step-by-step account of how lines in the sand move, Ides is less successful when attempting to capture the feeling of the times. Read full review
50
The New YorkerAnthony LaneOct 3, 2011
Clooney and company could have used Sturges - or, even better, Clifford Odets - when it came to rewrites. With all the betrayals and gassy ambitions swirling around here, we badly need dialogue to ignite the film, instead of which even the most aggressive spirits keep firing the dampest of lines. Read full review
50
VarietyJustin ChangSep 10, 2011
Intriguing but overly portentous drama, which seems far more taken with its own cynicism than most viewers will be. Read full review
40
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinOct 3, 2011
It's tempting to praise The Ides of March as a realistic depiction of how low we've sunk. But that would mean accepting the second-rate writing and third-rate melodrama and incredible shrinking characters. Read full review
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