Brightlyme i know i wasted 90 mins of my life.

DubyaHan The movie is wildly uneven but lively and timely - in its own surreal way

Roy Hart If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

Brenda The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

wmschoell The 1949 version of this story may not have been a masterpiece, but it's certainly a better piece of film-making -- and much better acted -- than this disappointing, sloppy, and comparatively dull remake. Whether or not it's more or less faithful to the novel is besides the point -- this is a MOVIE and it should work as a movie. Penn borders on the grotesque, Law looks like he needs sleep, Clarkson will never win an Oscar for this as McCambridge did in the original because her role seems to have been left on the cutting room floor to make room for more Penn. Important scenes are just sloughed off in non-dramatic fashion so that it's almost like a parody at times. See the original!

SnoopyStyle Jack Burden (Jude Law) is a Louisiana newspaper reporter. Willie Stark (Sean Penn) is the parish treasurer for the small town of Mason City. He is tired of the rampant corruption and isn't running again. Then a schoolhouse collapse brings Stark back but this time to run as governor with the help of political operator Tiny Duffy (James Gandolfini). Burden knows that Stark is only there to split the poor crackers' votes. After political strategist Sadie Burke (Patricia Clarkson) let the cat out of the bag, Stark goes populist hick against Duffy and the upper class. Stark wins by a landslide and he is confronted by the elite. Stark hires Burden as an adviser after he quit the newspaper. Duffy now works as the lieutenant governor. Sugar Boy (Jackie Earle Haley) is his scary driver. Burden's godfather Judge Irwin (Anthony Hopkins) is very influential and joins the effort to impeach Stark. Stark assigns Jack to find some dirt on Irwin. Brother and sister Adam (Mark Ruffalo) and Anne Stanton (Kate Winslet) are Burden's childhood friends and the upper class children of a former governor. Stark's womanizing ways starts with Sadie Burke, everyone wearing a skirt, and eventually Burden's first love Anne Stanton.This movie is all style but no energy. Everybody is putting in a heavy effort. The direction is weighted down. The movie sinks under all that heaviness. The dialog is tedious and spoken as if the world depends on it. There is no life in either Steven Zaillian's directions or script. The story moves so slowly that Zaillian may have been lost in the grandness of the attempt. Sean Penn and James Gandolfini are all mannerisms and impersonations. I guess Sean Penn's overacting can be excused because of the character. It doesn't make it any more appealing. Jude Law is surprisingly lifeless. It's just all so tired.

werefox08 Director Steven Zallian appears NOT to have got the best out of his stars, Sean Penn, Jude Law, Kate Winslet, Mark Ruffalo and James Gandolfini. They all give us below par performances. Sean Penn (an excellent actor) is terrible in this. He is in the lead role and is so bad...he is almost funny. When a movies lead actor is not functioning, the movie is in dire straights...before the cue ball has been touched. Its very possible that the other principle actors were so surprised by Penns inadequacies, that they just switched off. After the first scene, Zalliain should have had a long chat with Penn, and told him to play the character he was supposed to be playing (maybe he did !!). Whatever..this is a very poor motion picture. In the D.V.D. extras one of the actors said he felt he had such a great time...and the parties were amazing (or words like that). Under another director this could have been a pretty good movie. As it is, this is messy and not worth watching.

hctp67 I just can't imagine how this film did not generate more money at the box office. Look at the star-studded cast: Sean Penn, Kate Winslet, Anthony Hopkins, Jude Law, Mark Ruffalo, James Gandolfini, just to name a few. You have three Oscar winners in that crop of stars. I mean on name recognition alone more people should have gone to see it. Penn did a great job in his role as Willie Stark. Penn is an avid political activist and it was great to see him play a politician in one of his films. His role as Harvey Milk was better than this but still the Willie Stark character was one that no one else would have played better. I had to read the book for an English class back in high school and I have to say that while the book was better, the film was great as well. The film has an interesting storyline just like the book and each character in the film plays the one that they should have played. Anthony Hopkins was great as Judge Irwin but it was quite different to see Hopkins play someone other than a villain. I would definitely recommend this film to anyone has an interest in politics and is a fan of Penn's because he really played this part incredibly well.