All The King's Men is the 2006 adaptation of Robert Penn Warren novel of the same name and is directed (and also written for the screen) by Steven Zaillian who wrote Hannibal, Gangs Of New York and American Gangster amongst others.
Sean Penn leads an all star cast featuring Jude Law, Kate Winslet, Anthony Hopkins, James Gandolfini, Mark Ruffalo, Jackie Earl Halley and Patricia Clarkson.
Penn plays Willie Stark who is elected Louisiana governor by a landslide of lower class voters. Soon thereafter Stark is threatened by impeachment by Judge Irwin (Hopkins) and a group ofg politicians who want him out, so it is up to Jack Burden (Law) to dig up some dirt on Irwin, but this ends with tragic consequences.
All The King's Men is very well acted - look at the cast - how could it not be? And it is also intelligently written but the main problem is that it has been done before - not referring to the book and other adaptation of it on stage or screen, but plot wise its very samey with it's government corruption story.
The other problem is that it's quite, quite dull. The story drags along with really not much happening. Not even the starry cast can save it from how mundane and really melodramatic in places it is
**
A great performance from Penn et al cannot save this from never getting out of the stalls.
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