37
Metascore
37 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 70TimeRichard SchickelTimeRichard SchickelYou can, if you will, think of All the King's Men as a purely political parable, but that is to miss its blackest, bleakest meanings.
- 50ReelViewsJames BerardinelliReelViewsJames BerardinelliThose familiar with the novel will undoubtedly agree that reading it is a more satisfying experience than watching this disappointing film. One expects more - much more, in fact - with a cast of this caliber.
- 50The Hollywood ReporterKirk HoneycuttThe Hollywood ReporterKirk HoneycuttAudience can certainly find entertainment in this movie, so long as no one takes things too seriously. One suspects, however, that Zaillian and a vast team of producers and executive producers that includes political consultant and pundit James Carville believe they are making a serious commentary on American politics. It comes closer to kitsch.
- 42Entertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumEntertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumWriter-director Steven Zaillian's version stultifies, especially when compared with Robert Rossen's fiery 1949 Oscar winner. How could such dullness defeat the retelling, when Willie Stark is one of the most vivid characters in 20th-century American popular culture?
- 40VarietyTodd McCarthyVarietyTodd McCarthyOverstuffed and fatally miscast, All the King's Men never comes to life.
- 40New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinNew York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinAs Willie Stark, Sean Penn demonstrates how a great Method actor can make the world’s most unconvincing rabble-rouser.
- 40Village VoiceMichael AtkinsonVillage VoiceMichael AtkinsonPenn goes for larger-than-life, wrapping his pinched frown around an unintelligible Louisiana drawl and swinging his arms like an autistic evangelist... Law is no asset--looking rather sadly like John Ireland (the actor who played the 1949 Jack Burden), he has little control over his accent and zero energy.
- 30L.A. WeeklyElla TaylorL.A. WeeklyElla TaylorI'd take almost any colorful-character shtick over the gloomy gravitas that settles over All the King's Men early on and never leaves.
- 30Austin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenAustin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenDespite an A-list cast and director, it's astonishing how bad this movie is.
- 25Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsChicago TribuneMichael PhillipsKathy Baker, as Burden's elegantly sodden mother, shows the only sign of interpretive life in this stiff-jointed enterprise. She has about five minutes on screen; she's lucky that way.