As election time slowly closes in, Columbia’s “The Ides of March”, hits theaters in the most Democratic way. It’s a film directed by George Clooney, staring Clooney, and George even shares writing duties with Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon.

Running for office leaves a tattoo on your mind and soul and this movie makes me question if a politician is always true to his word if that candidate wins the grand prize. The movie weighs heavily on the Democrat party while leaving hardly any Republican room.

Although Clooney’s name is all over this movie, the central character is played by Stephen Meyers (Ryan Gosling from “Drive”) who is Pennsylvania Gov. Mike Morris (Clooney) press secretary. Phillip Seymour Hoffman, as Paul Zara, does very well as his campaign manager and there is Paul Giamatti (“Win Win”) who is running against Morris as Tom Duffy.

It’s a a film that is held together with strong acting rather on substance or plot. The film displays sex scandles with a young intern, Molly (Evan Rachel Wood) and blackmail on the edge of the Ohio primary. You know politics is a little on the dirty pool side when a manager of one campaign tries to recruit a rival over to his side. Everyone is obviously looking for winning ways.

If your looking for action in “The Ides of March”, which is based on a play by Willimon, called” Farragut North”, then look elsewhere. This film is filled full of intrigue and clocking in at only 100 minutes, goes quick. Pay close attention to the end shot with a chilling closeup of Gosling’s face. The shot seemed frozen in time. I hope this film doesn’t wear you down before the upcoming presidential election in a little over a year. Clooney’s acting experience has sure brought him a long way. “The Ides of March” is rated R for bad words, runs 100 minutes, and opens in theaters in 2D (whew!) on October 7, 2011.

By Hustlin Bob Higgins 3 stars