A great cast simply can’t completely balance out the problematic screenplay and dour message that hamper “The Ides of March,” the new George Clooney film shot partially in Ann Arbor earlier this year.

Clooney portrays Gov. Mike Morris, an unabashedly liberal Democratic presidential candidate who’s engaged in a tight Ohio primary race. Morris’ campaign manager is the grizzled, been-there done-that Paul Zara (Philip Seymour Hoffman), while his press secretary is the earnest, idealistic Stephen Meyers (Ryan Gosling). The Republican candidate’s equally tough press secretary Tom Duffy (Paul Giamatti) arranges a meeting with Meyers to try and make him cross the political fence, and that’s where the initial fireworks explode.

The plot thickens further when young Democratic intern Molly (Evan Rachel Wood) has a one-night stand with Stephen, but then this smart, cynical drama starts to go off the deep end into thriller territory. Contrived plot twists replace plausible character development, and the dire end result is neither that compelling nor satisfying.

Although Clooney directed, co-produced and co-wrote the screenplay, which is based on the play “Farragut North” by Beau Willimon, “Ides” hinges on the transformation of Gosling’s character, not Clooney’s. Gosling does a splendid job portraying a press secretary whose will to win the campaign takes him to all sorts of deceitful, unsavory places, and Marisa Tomei is also impressive in a small but pivotal role as a New York Times reporter ready to play nice or nasty in order to get the major story.

Without giving away too much of the endgame plot machinations, Molly the intern has more than a little in common with real-life intern Monica Lewinsky, with sex, lies and power plays winding the film into melodrama territory fit for a TV soap opera. Whether you like such stuff or not, the overall message of the film is remarkably downbeat and pessimistic in its indictment about how American chooses a president. Gee, just what we need, a movie to make us even feel even worse about our political system. Regardless of the movie’s theme, many will undestandably flock to “Ides” in order to see scenes shot locally, including those done in Power Center, the Arthur Miller Theatre and the Michigan League. Also look for other Michigan locales in Clooney’s latest, including settings in Detroit, Dearborn and Bloomfield Hills.