With a cast like this, it's no wonder King's Men got remade. Penn clearly stands out, of course. How could he not? His Willie Stark is the only thing sparking anything close to life in the film. But, with the part such as it is, Penn also tends to unnecessarily chew up scenery, while everyone stands around him in a wilting repose. Law—once again narrating the proceedings (must he do this in ALL his films?)—tries to embody a character who really doesn't seem to give a rat's ass about anything,…

Overthought, overwrought and thuddingly underwhelming, this high-profile misfire makes a congealed gumbo out of Robert Penn Warren's Pulitzer-winning 1946 novel and the Oscar-winning 1949 movie that followed it, sinking a classy cast in the goo. Sean Penn is dynamite as Willie Stark, the Louisiana politician (modeled on Huey Long) who makes it to the governor's mansion on the votes of his fellow "hicks," but the film's fuse just won't light.

A big surprise, because James Carville, who knows his…