The Midnight Sky had real potential to be interesting but George Clooney finally made me a believer about his deficiencies as a director....

Beware The Ides of March -- it isn't that good. I really never believed that Gosling was a hotshot political consultant. A problem is that we are frequently told that he is good, but we don't see anything. He has one idea that he tells his candidate, and frankly it's kind of dopey and oversold. He just doesn't look or seem the part. And then what we see is him making a series of dumb decisions, mistake after mistake (meeting with Giamatti, both telling and not telling his boss, banging the intern). But he's some hotshot political genius. Hmmm.

Also the Clooney candidate never came into focus. Mostly he says a bunch of idealistic platitudes. And doesn't seem to have a clear identity. Also a number of the major premises seemed weak. The GOP is said to be in disarray, so everyone is sure that whoever wins the Dem primary will be the next president. And senator giving his endorsement will shift his delegates and is decisive.

Only Giamatti and Hoffman seemed convincing, and then only half the time. The direction is pretty uninspired and the music cues were annoying. Really all the characters and relationships seemed a bit sketched in.

Okay, I'm a bit harsh. The film is decent enough for a cable watch. But really the intrigue just isn't that intriguing. There's no reason to really care about anyone in the film. or to care which politician or which consultant comes out ahead.