All the King's Men: C

It pains me much to write this review. One of the most anticipated fall movies of the past two years has just fallen way below expectation. It's even more suprising when you consider the factors: as source material you have a Pulitzer-prize winning novel about the rise and fall of an honest-to-god American politician, you have a 1949 oscar-winning drama based on the book you're also writing about, you have a fantastic cast from the likes of British wonder Kate Winslett to the madness of Sean Penn, and last but not least you have one of the most heralded writers of the 90's, Steve Zaillian, writing the script and directing for you. How can anything go wrong? This would be the question I kept asking myself as I was slowly but surely put out by this movie. It can't be the beginning, no that's too good, and the script flows like water, it clearly shows that Zaillian has lost none of his knack for writing since Schindler's List. The problem then would have to be the cast. Not to say there aren't some good performances: Jude Law greatly impresses with his subtle wit and passion and Sean Penn hits some great notes when he launches into a trademark politico speech. No, the problem is that the cast is given far to little to work with. Sean Penn barely even rises to become the dictator-like Willie Stark, governor of Louisiana, before he begins to fall, and Jude Law's character is almost wholly corrupt for no good reason, not to mention Kate Winslett and Mark Ruffalo as winsome siblings seemingly lost on the road to adulthood. These characters are among some of the most loathsome in recent movie history. Everyone spirals around Stark to do his bidding, save Anthony Hopkins in all of his grandfatherly goodness, and the movie could care less why they do it. It doesn't even try to attract us on an emotional level. No, it's far to good to be a drama, it wants to be a black-hearted parable. Well fine, but first you have to show some energy, some structure, some depth, something other than intelligent dialogue. Much like The Black Dahlia or even this summer's Lady In The Water, All the King's Men collapses under the strain of it's own fiery importance and melodrama without even once really giving us a reason to love it.