Why is it so bad?

1. The screenwriter attempted to keep some of the framing narrative devices from the novel-but the length (2 hrs vs 500 pages) made those devices awkward and confusing.
2. The character development really blew... you knew practically nothing about Adam and his sister from this film. Practically every character was underdeveloped. Think of Sadie's character.
3. The ending was botched...the novel did NOT end with Stark's death.
4. The use of black and white was useless and annoying...it reminded me of what they do on WWE when there is too much blood.
5. They changed the time period...the story doesn't make sense outside of the depression. The economy was booming during the time period the film was set in, so there would have been less poor people (and less Stark supporters).
6. Penn's acting was really over the top. He seemed like a caricature, not a character.


So yeah, the film was pretty bad. It could have been great, but it was better than The Ringer no matter how you look at it.

Most Recently Viewed
All the King's Men 4/10


People are always asking me if I know timmy_501.

Come on ... this story has to be attacked and hushed up because the story is pretty close to the real story of Huey Long, and the reality of "democracy" in the U S of A.

I am amazed at how good this story was, and how little people seem to know about this.

This was beyond good, it is on a par with any classic and one day this will be given its due.

Here I am, years after your post, responding to why I think this movie "didn't work" for me.

Bottom line: This movie was about a book and not the factual evidence. In this particular history based story, the FACTS are better than the book version. I get it... the book was great in many ways of portraying a particular persons's view...but the real life documentary that I saw years ago by Ken Burns...made me FEEL many emotions. It made me angry, it made me suspect a cover up, It made me FEEL RAW EMOTIONS... I saw this movie because I'm collecting Mark Ruffalo films... and I could hardly pay attention. I started doing chores, while still glancing up at the large screen in our livingroom...and it just didn't grip me like all other Ruffalo films I've seen thus far (at least 17 and growing in my collection)...At the end, I said to myself,,, hmmm, this film reminds me of that Huey person... and then I went and viewed the "extras" and went. HUH? This MOVIE IS about him!~ I think one of the people said it in the extras perfectly "If you read about the real life person Huey Long, the book gets shelved...because there are so many fascinating things ..." And that's my feeling exactly.

The book is from the character perspective, portrayed by Jude Law. And in a nutshell, this may have made a great book, but it doesn't capture the same elements in the film that make this a great story.

Possibly elements that make me feel the movie areas that Didn't work:


Sean Penn portraying a LARGER than life FIGURE (a historical figure even); and although he did a great job... someone else would have better portrayed the "rawness" and grit that I feel the movie lacked.

Huey made many enemies, as many political figures often do. I didn't see enough of this element in the movie to make me suspect more than one person was willing to assassinate him.

Huey did some things that made you wonder if he was a good or bad guy at times... I didn't see this happen too much in the film.

The speeches he gave live show a lot of grit, and sweat and passionate yelling or speaking of things that people wanted to hear... I don't think I saw that captured in the film. Penn looks dry, and air conditioned...It just lacked that "grit" that feeling like he was struggling to get his point across and his voice heard.

Accents: yes, I echo the same thing repeated over and over on the boards...the accents are a tad off. They just don't come across genuine all the time. They aren't horrible...just 'off'...and yes, i'm a southerner LOL. Not that it means much because as someone else stated, the accents in different parts of the south, are different...

Okay, so that's enough time spent on this topic, but I think that more movies could be made about this figure. I really personally believe that Long was shot by the security guards as mentioned in reports. I also believe that the doctor was not armed, as it's reported that the doctor's gun was found in his car... but oh well. Watch this movie, then watch the documentary done by Ken Burns and you be your own judge.

I'll give you my top 3 from my Review

So yeah, we have some serious problems here.

1. All the Kings Men doesn’t care about why Penn falls. He just does. The movie spens so much time talking about how great Sean Penn is, then Penn does a 180 and gives us no reason why or why to care? Did he like the power? Did he want more? Did the dancer get expensive?

2. Is Jude Law the only guy Penn can use to find out what Anthony Hopkins did? This is Louisiana, no newspaper person worth a dime doesn’t know where all the bodies are buried, the problem is, none of them care. Not to mention the fact that Anthony Hopkins only has done ONE bad thing in his political life? Only taken ONE bribe?

Please. Louisiana politicians have taken more bribes than that while you are reading this.

3. The Hospital. That’s what the big thing is. That’s it. Louisiana has a ton of hospitals and schools, so much that when one closes it’s not even front page news a week later. Mark Ruffalo is wasted here. People in this state get caught stealing all the time, and it never really damages them long term. We had a Governor go to federal prison for bribery, and before he turned down the job, won several polls to put him back in the Governor’s mansion.

http://7poundbag.com/2016/04/27/movie-review-kings-men/