
In the 1950s, in Louisiana, the smart populist, manipulative and wolf hick Willie Stark (Sean Penn) is elected Governor with the support of the lower social classes. He joins a team composed of his bodyguard and friend Sugar Boy (Jackie Earle Haley); the journalist from an aristocratic family Jack Burden (Jude Law); the lobbyist Tiny Duffy (James Gandolfini); and his mistress Sadie Burke (Patricia Clarkson), to face the opposition of the upper classes. When the influent Judge... (Full plot summary below)
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In the 1950s, in Louisiana, the smart populist, manipulative and wolf hick Willie Stark (Sean Penn) is elected Governor with the support of the lower social classes. He joins a team composed of his bodyguard and friend Sugar Boy (Jackie Earle Haley); the journalist from an aristocratic family Jack Burden (Jude Law); the lobbyist Tiny Duffy (James Gandolfini); and his mistress Sadie Burke (Patricia Clarkson), to face the opposition of the upper classes. When the influent Judge Irwin (Sir Anthony Hopkins) supports a group of politicians in their request of impeachment, Stark assigns Jack to find some dirtiness along the life of Irwin, leading to a tragedy in the end.
Leave your thoughts about All the King's Men.
| Associated PressChristy LemireInstead of being important, All the King's Men is merely self-important -- and pretentious and bombastic, but ultimately hollow. |
| Detroit NewsTom LongUngainly and bloated with an unearned sense of self-importance, All the King's Men is nevertheless worth watching for Sean Penn's mesmerizing performance as a corrupt politician who exults in his own dirty ways. |
| CinePassionFernando F. CroceStatic and dreary, drained of juice and drenched in "respectable" lighting |
| Denver Rocky Mountain NewsRobert DenersteinInstead of bringing this story to bustling, brilliant life, Zaillian and company make it feel as if it belongs behind a glass case in some museum. |
| Groucho ReviewsPeter CanaveseZaillian sells short the faceoff of shrewd old guard and scrappy proletariat by looking away just when the twain meet. |
| Salon.comStephanie ZacharekBoth the performance and the movie around it are virtually incomprehensible. |
| Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranZaillian (an Oscar winner for his "Schindler's List" screenplay) has given us an intricate, subtly rewarding narrative whose uncompromising nature and undeniable moral seriousness make it far from business as usual, even in the ever-decreasing world of quality Hollywood filmmaking. |
| Reeling ReviewsLaura CliffordSean Penn is expectedly dynamic...but even he cannot overcome a film that has him turn on a dime from duped small timer to Machiavellian manipulator. |
| EricDSnider.comEric D. SniderIf it weren't for the fact that the movie isn't very good, it would probably stand a chance of fulfilling its transparent Oscar dreams. |
| Capital Times (Madison, WI)Rob ThomasThe fact that it falls short of the greatness it so obviously strives for doesn't mean it isn't a good film. |