In this film we don’t dwell on the big speeches and the public announcements too much, what we are provided with here is more of the behind the scenes look into the campaign. What all the guys and girls running round like headless chickens are up to on the senators behalf, with the small seedy hotel rooms, the back street bars & empty office rooms, where 'the real decisions are made' I found it pretty riveting stuff.
Our story follows Steven Myers (Ryan Gosling) an idealistic campaign spokesman for Presidential hopeful Mike Morris (George Clooney) and working alongside chain smoking Campaign Manager Paul Zara (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) as they fight, squabble & debate their way through the day to day offerings of the campaign.
Morris is the perfect candidate, cool, charming & quick lipped, with a near shoe in for the Presidency. Myers appears to be a political boy genius with Paul Zara forever slowly slapping him back down to earth, and when Myers gets a call from the opposition spokesperson Tom Duffy (Paul Giamatti) to come over to their side the story really kicks in with Myers finding himself fanning fires from several directions, including an affair he gets tangled up in with an Intern on the campaign (the lovely Evan Rachel Wood).
Gosling I'm convinced has it written into his contract this simple statement: 'Must end up in bed with really hot chick or will not do movie'.
Anyway! You aren’t bored here with political mumbo jumbo, the story flows well and the focus is much more around the characters (especially Myers) journey & interaction with each other which keeps this film very engaging.
I’ve also decided that I’m a little starved of good films of late I must admit. So this was a welcomed addition to the year. It certainly doesn’t break any boundaries in this particular genre.
But it floated my northern boat none the less.
7 Northern Thumbs Out of 10.
http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi1103731737/
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