ALL THE KING'S MEN

A small town politician rises to the governorship by railing against government corruption in the drama ALL THE KINGS MEN. The movie, based on the Robert Penn novel and the 1946 film of the same name, is a political drama detailing the rise and fall of fictious Louisiana governor Willie Stark. Stark modeled after former Louisiana governor and senator Huey Long, is played by Sean Penn. Stark rises to the top of the political scene by outing corrupt politicians, and yet succumbs to the same corruption that he so reviled.

ALL THE KING’S MEN attempts to serve as a political commentary on the supposed flawed, failed and crooked institution of government in our country. Not only does the film fail in its argument, but clearly is inept at showing the unethical nature of the individuals involved. The film was written and directed by Steve Zaillian, who dealt wonderfully with themes of greed and corruption in his 1998 picture A CIVIL ACTION. A CIVIL ACTION was a plot-driven work with wonderful performances. ALL OF THE KING’S MEN has a grocery-list worth of talent in its cast, maybe too much, because Zaillian’s screenplay has a hard time devoting any time to any of them. Each of the subplots is touched on, but not enough to add any clarity or depth to the film’s main storyline. The performances are uniformly good, with the exception of one of today’s finest actors, Penn. Penn’s portrayal of Stark is much like Stark himself: loud, obnoxious and embarrassingly smug. Considering its pedigree, ALL THE KING’S MEN is a grand letdown.

Grade: D