I've been meaning to watch The Ides of March for a long while now. Not only was this recommended to me by a friend a couple of years ago (and she kept reminding me I should watch it), but since I study political science, I felt I had to see it. Overall, I liked it. Ides of March has a few problems like weak characterizations and a lacking sense that we the audience should care about the story (which consequently possibly makes the film harder to enjoy and maybe a little boring for those not interested in politics and campaigning), but the performances are very solid all around, George Clooney does a great job directing and it's a well shot film as well. I wouldn't call it a "great" film, because although it does have some very effective scenes, I'm already starting to forget what exactly happened in it, which was little to begin with. But Clooney's direction and especially the performances do make it worth watching. Yeah, there's a lot of backstabbing in politics.