All the King's Men (2006)

  • Review Date: December 18, 2006
  • PG-13
  • Genre: Drama
  • 2006
Review

Common Sense Media says

Ambitious, slow-moving, trite political drama.
greenON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age.
yellowPAUSE: Know your child; some content
may not be right for some kids.
redOFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age.
not for kidsNOT FOR KIDS: Not appropriate for kids any age.

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Quality
 
Sometimes media can be age appropriate but a real waste of time. Our star rating assesses the media's overall quality.

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Parents say

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Kids say

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What parents need to know

Parents need to know that this intense political drama will probably be of little interest to their kids. Women are sexual objects for men. Some women dance onstage wearing scant clothing and striking provocative poses, while another young woman, romanticized in soft light, appears both naked in a river and undressing for sex with her partner. A politician travels with a bodyguard who carries and shoots a pistol. Two bloody shootings, one of which is a suicide. Characters frequently smoke cigars and cigarettes, and a couple of them are alcoholics.

  • Positive messages0
    Politicians, lawmen, and reporters engage in corrupt activities (including graft, blackmail, and exchanges of favors).
  • Violence5
    Characters fight, awkwardly; there's talk of a school fire that kills children (but only the funeral is shown on screen); after a suicide by shooting, there's blood on the wall; two men are shot to death, with blood on the bodies and oozing onto the floor around them.
  • Sex5
    Many images of women in the movie seem based solely on men's fantasies. Dancers on stage reveal cleavage, legs, and bottoms to Willie, who selects each night's sex partner from these semi-private auditions. In repeated flashbacks, Jack watches Anne naked in a river (from the back, in the moonlight) and remembers her undressing for bed, only to be disappointed at his own inaction (all of this is shown from his point of view, and the footage is "romantically" blurry).
  • Language3
    Variation of n-word used by white men; other mild language ("hell").
  • Consumerism0
    Not applicable.
  • Drinking, drugs, & smoking5
    Frequent cigarette and cigar smoking; a couple of characters are alcoholics, and they and others drink to the point of drunkenness (including passing out).
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What's the story?

ALL THE KING'S MEN stars Sean Penn as Willie Stark. An ambitious, teetotaling Louisiana politician, Willie promises his poor constituents that he'll fight the smug, rich upstate powerbrokers. While professional politicians make fun of Willie's country-bumpkinish predilections, reporter Jack Burden (Jude Law) sees in Willie an essential decency. As Jack narrates Willie's story, it intersects with his own. Willie loses his way after getting distracted by the conventional emblems of corruption -- women and alcohol. His inevitable downfall is based on Robert Penn Warren's 1946 novel about real-life politician Huey Long).

Is it any good?

 

Ambitious but slow-moving and trite, All the King's Men features a strong performance by Sean Penn. And from the start, Jack takes a complicated sort of high road: The camera looks down on him as he lies in bed, describing the pursuit of "truth" in terms both ethical and professional. He pronounces that such pursuit must be premised on a belief in its potential benefit, already alluding to the great harm that befalls almost everyone in the film who uncovers secrets. What Jack leaves out is the film's more compelling lesson -- that this so-called truth is actually a fiction.

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What families can talk about

Families can talk about the political process. Candidates are often elected based on promises to voters -- what happens after they're elected, when their efforts to fulfill those promises encounter roadblocks like lack of funding or loss of idealism? Do voters really believe that campaign promises will be kept? Should politicians be more accountable to their constituents? What are the strengths and weaknesses of America's political system?

This review was written by Cynthia Fuchs
Adult
April 9, 2008
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Adult
October 27, 2010
AGE
13
 
Please, watch the older version of this movie. This adaptation is good, but nowhere near the caliber of the first. Some strong performances yes, but kind of boring.
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Helped me decide (4) | Had useful details (4) | Read my mind (4)
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This review was written by Cynthia Fuchs
Studio:Sony Pictures
Director:Steven Zaillian
Cast:Anthony Hopkins, Jude Law, Sean Penn
Genre:Drama
Run time:128 minutes
Theatrical release date:September 22, 2006
DVD release date:December 19, 2006
MPAA rating:PG-13
MPAA explanation:an intense sequence of violence, sexual content and partial nudity.
This review was written by Cynthia Fuchs
 

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ON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age.
PAUSE: Know your child; some content may not be right for some kids.
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