The posters and picket signs read: “We Like Mike” because Mike is Governor Mike Morris (George Clooney) looking so much like a real Presidential candidate that he might just give Mitt Romney a run for his money.
Clooney stars and directs this serious and dark look of behind-the-scenes politics which means he’s not the screwball
actor with those twinkling eyes and big white smile that we’ve grown to love. Governor Morris is from Arkansas. And he’s tooting a horn that sounds like hundreds of generic candidates we’ve known. But this isn’t Clooney’s film. It’s the film about his press secretary, Stephen Meyers (Ryan Gosling) a man who starts out optimistic and then falls victim to a situation
of the politics inside the politics. And then there’s an intern. Of course.
If the Governor wins the campaign, Meyers keeps his job and goes to the White House. If the Governor
loses, he goes back to a position in a consulting firm. So there’s a lot at stake that makes these two men seemingly and seamlessly woven into one (thus the one sheet for the film having the two half faces creating a whole in a political circus.)
The movie has news cameos with Chris Matthews and Charlie Rose but it’s the candidate himself that feels a lot like everyone we’ve seen before. The irony is that a reporter (Marisa Tomei) talks to campaign manager (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) and suggests he cant win the election with his “hope to change” speeches. Sounds familiar?
This movie might also be about Clooney using his movie star looks and his political appeal to make his own inside statements on the mess of our union. Is this Clooney’s political agenda?
But the real fun is watching two great actors, Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Paul Giamati as the rival campaign managers. Three tiaras