A good movie

Oh dear, I find it somewhat difficult to judge this flick. Indeed, even though I gave it a positive rating, I can’t help thinking that I’m being actually too generous. The point is that even though it was definitely an improvement on ‘Leatherheads’, George Clooney’s previous directing effort, it was still not of the same caliber of his previous work (‘Good Night, and Good Luck.’, ‘Confessions of a Dangerous Mind’). Personally, I always thought that politics are fascinating so I’m always eager to check movies about this subject and I had some high expectations for this movie. Unfortunately, the whole thing doesn’t tell or show you anything you haven't seen before so that was rather a let-down. Furthermore, there were some scenes which didn’t really work for me or maybe I missed something. Why did Ryan Gosling got fired? Because he talked to Giamatti? Wasn’t it a little bit harsh? To go to a bar, to listen to what the guy had say and finally refusing his offer without making it a secret to Philip Seymour Hoffman hardly seemed a betrayal to me. Also, why did Evan Rachel Wood killed herself? I can understand that she was quite shaken up by the abortion but to commit suicide seemed a little bit drastic. Still, I somewhat enjoyed the damned thing thanks to the stellar cast (Ryan Gosling, George Clooney, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Paul Giamatti, Evan Rachel Wood, Marisa Tomei, Jeffrey Wright). Above all, Ryan Gosling was once again pretty impressive, even if the motivations of his character were rather murky but that was more a problem with the script than with his performance. To conclude, it is a good movie which could have been great but I still think it is worth a look, especially if you are interested by the subject.

7/10