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George Clooney co-stars in “Ides” as a slimy presidential contender.

News flash from George Clooney — politicians and their handlers are corrupt and will do pretty much anything to get elected.

After a never-ending series of real-life political scandals, the cynical take on presidential politics in Clooney’s fourth film as a director, “The Ides of March,’’ seems less shocking than intended.

It’s nevertheless still smart and solidly entertaining, thanks to one of the year’s top ensemble casts working at the top of its game.

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Clooney exudes charm as Mike Morris, a slick Pennsylvania governor seeking the Democratic nomination who refuses to compromise his liberal ideals — at least until the going gets very tough.

His role is actually subordinate to that of Ryan Gosling — one of our finest young actors — who digs deep into the part of Stephen Myers, Morris’ idealistic but seasoned press secretary, who turns out to be a lot more naive than he thought he was.

Driven by his own ambition, Stephen makes a series of problematic decisions when the governor’s victory in the crucial Ohio primary is threatened by a rapidly unfolding series of events.

Stephen unwisely flirts with joining the Machiavellian manager (Paul Giamatti) of Morris’ main rival, who wants to hire him away — a development guaranteed to trigger the paranoia of Stephen’s gruff boss (Philip Seymour Hoffman).

Even more problematically, Stephen becomes romantically involved with a politically well-connected but unstable young intern (Evan Rachel Wood) with the capacity to sink the entire Morris campaign.

And then there’s Ida Horowicz (Marisa Tomei), an unscrupulous New York Times reporter who’s charmed by Stephen but isn’t above blackmailing him, or anyone else, to land a juicy scoop.

Hovering on the strategic periphery of the action is the North Carolina governor (Jeffrey Wright) trying to leverage a block of delegates for a top cabinet job or better.

The screenplay was freely adapted by Clooney and his longtime collaborator Grant Heslov from “Farragut North,’’ a play by Beau Willimon, a former campaign aide to Howard Dean, who Morris somewhat resembles — with a healthy dash of John Edwards and other politicians with feet of clay.

It’s not up to the high standard of the Clooney-Heslov script for “Good Night, and Good Luck,’’ or what you’d imagine that, say, Aaron Sorkin could have done with this premise (for starters, sharper dialogue). Or what Elaine May did with the similarly themed “Primary Colors’’ 13 years ago.

The plotting may get progressively more predictable and far-fetched, but it still provides plenty of juicy opportunities for this wonderful cast (except for Jennifer Ehle, whose role as Morris’ wife seems to have ended up mostly on the cutting room floor).

Still, it’s worth the price of admission just to watch a pair of heavyweights like the hard-driving Hoffman and dirty trickster Giamatti glare at each other.

There’s also a memorably juicy climax where Gosling and Clooney brutally negotiate terms in a restaurant kitchen.

Clooney admirably manages to showcase his cast without ever letting the pace flag, bringing in the film at well under two hours — quite a feat in these days of bloated running times.

It will be interesting to see how “The Ides of March’’ plays to an American public that, polls seem to show, is rapidly becoming as cynical about politicians as the movie’s central character.