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© Peter T. Chattaway 2006, subject to licensing agreement with Christianity Today International. All rights reserved. Click for reprint information.

Movie critics have condemned quite a few films in recent weeks, and their reviews came as no surprise. No one expected, for example, the Tim Allen sci-fi comedy Zoom to be anything but disposable entertainment. And the formulaic basketball flick Crossover was a failure—plain and simple.

But what has happened here? How could it be that All the King's Men is receiving almost unanimous rejections from film critics?

It could have been a contender. All the King's Men is based on Robert Penn Warren's fantastic, Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. It was directed by Oscar winner Steve Zallian. It boasts a brilliant cast that includes Sean Penn, Kate Winslet, Anthony Hopkins, Mark Ruffalo, Patricia Clarkson, and Jude Law.

And yet, even though this story about the rise and fall of a crowd-pleasing Southern politician paints a profound picture of ambition, greed, and corruption, the film just isn't working for critics.

That goes for most of the Christian press critics too.

Greg Wright (Looking Closer) says, "For a film that is about shameful manipulation, both personal and political, Zaillian disingenuously and shamelessly pulls the audience's strings."

David DiCerto (Catholic News Service) is similarly bothered. "Like its demagogue protagonist, [the film] aspires to greatness. Yet, while achieving it to some measure, both movie and man fall short."

Frederica Matthewes-Green (Frederica.com, originally published in The National Review) files a complaint about certain cast members. "Penn is a terrific actor … but the accent suits him like a bad toupee. … I say this as a native southerner. I have heard a lot of accents across the south. I grew up in Charleston. I have lived in New Orleans. I never encountered anything like Mr. Penn's accent outside of movies like this." And she adds that Jude Law "does no better …."

Marcus Yoars (Plugged In) acknowledges the insights about corruption offered by this tale, but he concludes with some disappointment that the film is so unrelentingly bleak. "All the King's Men isn't trying to score any religious points. It's certainly not trying to tell us who has the ability to turn our darkness into light, our bad into good, our soil into flesh. It won't even acknowledge that such supernatural hope exists. It's dedicated to preaching, as Time's Richard Schickel notes, unrelenting and unavoidable blackness and bleakness.

Christian Hamaker (Crosswalk) stands up for the film. "[All the King's Men] vividly illustrates the adage that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. … [T]he film sneaks up on us and delivers a vivid, powerful conclusion, ending with a final image that reveals the wages of sin. Whatever its drawbacks … All the King's Men is, in the end, a memorable story that sticks to your soul."

Mainstream critics are not giving the film any points for the potential it fails to fulfill.

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