THIS MOVIE WAS AWFUL!!!

I'm going to make a film about the Italian mafia, set in Italy.

My stars will be:
Billy Bob Thornton, Walt Goggins, Gaylord Sartain, Reese Witherspoon, Dolly Parton, and Julia Roberts.

Anyone see a problem with that?

If not, you probably don't see anything wrong with All The King's Men either.

The cinematography in this film is great, but I would agree with the person who started this thread. The casting for this movie was horrendous and ultimately killed the movie.

Sean Penn, Jude Law, and James Gandolfini make Kevin Costner sound like Sam Elliott. The only one who did a terrific job with the accent with Kate Winslet.

A couple of genuine Southerners like Glenn Morshower and Kathy Baker weren't enough to save this dog.

--- Making hay while the sun shines ---

I totally agree, and I was shocked. It took me like 5 days to get a copy from blockbuster...so I figured it would be decent. Its the kind of film that pretends to be smarter than it is. The only light side to the film was Sean Penn's portrayal of the southern politician.

I agree... I was salivating until this finally got out of my Blockbuster queue. I always loved the story about Huey Long, and thought with such a powerhouse cast it couldn't be bad. I was wrong. Jude Law was ok, and Kate Winslet was great as always, but they didn't really use her well. Mark Ruffalo is a personal favorite, and of course you can't go wrong with Hopkins. What, then, ruined it for me? Sean Penn. He was terrible in the role. Not only is his southern accent horrible (I would have assassinated him too if he sounded like that!), but he overacted and made the role way beyond anything it could have been in real life. He ruined what could have been at least a decent movie. Of course, I hate how he shoves his political views down our throats, but he's always performed SOMEWHAT solidly in previous films (though I feel he's a bit overrated usually). The overarching political message seemed a BIT biased towards today's political environment and less about the bossism and corruption of the actual time. I think the scripting was ok, the camerawork was awesome, and the story could have made for a solid movie. But putting Sean Penn up front really ruined it. I think putting so many solid players also hurt it a bit, as the whole point of the Huey Long story is that the little guy is most likely to do better, even though power corrupts equally.

You are saying so is because, let me guess, the movie has Sean Penn and you are a stupid Bush supporter?

NO! sean penn's acting was brilliant!

not great though I think winslet is just awful again. she always plays the same way, endlessly craggy judgemental moody and passive aggressive. she is a pretty face with absurd confidence based on very little actual talent

For the record, I hate Bush. I hated him from his first day in office. Dislike FOX news and everything FOX puts out except House.


I saw this movie without any previous conditioning, I just picked it up in hollywood Video one day and thought it sounded good. Boy, was I wrong. Sean Penn, while usually a good actor, was horrible. The plot... Wait, what plot? The only good scene is in the end where Willie Stark gets shot. After I saw it, I realized that i didnt even remeber what it was about. Cinematography was excellent, but the plot and charcters were wooden beyond beleif.



It shows that when you put a bunch of famous, A-list, actors on screen together, You get a mishmash of horrendous acting and pretty faces. Like Ocean's 12.

I'm gonna have to disagree with it being awful. I don't think it's an amazing movie but the cinematography is good, the acting is pretty good (I don't know much about accents so whatever), and it had its inspirational parts. I gave it a 7 out 10.