The original release date for this cynical political thriller was 2008 but something unexpected happened - there was an outbreak of Obama-inspired hope. Dammit.
Odds were it would never last. And, sure enough, the political lifespan of feelin' good ran to three years and it's now (double-dealing) business as usual.
It is into this dank moistness where the mushrooms do dwell that Clooney - as writer, director, producer, star and occasional activist - plants the seeds of betrayal that is the theme of a tale that is firmly pitched through the looking glass from the high idealism of Aaron Sorkin's West Wing fables.
Into the chilly maelstrom of a winner-takes-all Ohio Democratic primary comes high-flying press agent Stephen Meyers (man of the moment Ryan Gosling) who'll provide the words for Governor Mike Morris (George Clooney) if Morris will give him something to believe in.
Meyers works for political bruiser Paul Zara (Philip Seymour Hoffman) but if the manager of the rival campaign Tom Duffy (Paul Giametti) gets his way the bright, young thing will betray the Morris for Senator Pullman's more muscular brand of Democratic politics.
But Meyers believes in Morris. "He has to win," says Meyers, brooding urgently.
"He's a nice guy," says Maresi Tomei's fair weather hack Ida Horowicz, "but he'll let you down sooner or later."
The clever money's on "sooner" and the arrival on the scene of seductress Molly Stearns (Evan Rachel Wood) trailing the heady perfume of political scandal ensures that events move with the syncopated gallop of a chess match.
Meyer's journey from believer, to stooge, to realist, to mannequin barely registers on the practised, plastic of his media visage but the cleverness of Gosling's play is the poker face that hints at the degradation beneath.
This is all driven by a snappy script from Beau Willimon who worked on the 2004 Howard Dean campaign thus bringing the ring of authenticity.
Clooney, the actor, goes through the well-oiled gears from charm to hard-ass and, as a little treat, we get a cameo from Jennifer Ehle as Morris's wife. Indeed, all the cast are superior, relishing Clooney's thesis that there are no heroes or villains, just people chasing the veneer of morality like it's a doughnut down a drainpipe.
Giametti and Hoffman slug it out with thick-throated relish and they are given a run for their money from ingenue Wood who surprises with a deft and intelligent turn as a used and abused intern.
Clooney, the director, puts the story centre stage and his workmanlike direction draws inspiration from the gritty conspiracy thrillers of the 1970s (even borrowing their autumnal browns).
The exception is the space he devotes to a string of seduction scenes - woman on man, man on woman, politician on prey - which are intimate, breathless and laced with danger.
The Ides Of March feels familiar and its message about the debasement of politics breaks no new ground. However, there's sufficient heft and sway to the story to make such shortcomings insignificant.
I WON'T BE ENTERING POLITICS
Director George Clooney has delved deeply into the cynical world of politics in The Ides Of March but he has no intention of entering the game himself.
He told a London Film Festival press conference: "I have a comfortable life. I am able to dip my toe into issues involved in politics, like in Sudan or Darfur.
"Where I can have some involvement then I'm happy to do it and I don't have to compromise as a politician."
But he is not completely disconnected from the political scene. His father Nick recently ran for office as a Democrat in Kentucky. That experience informed his son's film-making.
George said: "There are hands that you have to shake that you wouldn't normally shake and it's unfortunate but that's the way it is.
"You can't finance your own campaign unless you're independently wealthy, which my father isn't. This is even the case in a small congressional district in Kentucky. It could cost you a couple million dollars to run so you end up having to make deals you normally wouldn't find as attractive.
"But, 95 per cent of the people who win elections have the most money, that's it."
– From November 2011
