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
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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