This is a remake of a story loosely based on the life story of Huey Long. It shows the rise and fall of a Louisiana man who fought against dishonest crooks in office and wound up in the governor's chair. Once there, he couldn't resist the dark side. In a memorable scene near the end he tells a large crowd that his side has crooks and the other side has crooks. But he'll watch his crooks closely so they can't take as much the other's will.
The FP Gal and I got some free passes to this movie. The trailer pulled me in. And Huey Long is kind of an interesting figure in American politics. So off we went. At one point she caught me looking at my watch. "What time is it?," she whispered. I answered that it was about 9. AM or PM I wasn't sure.
If you're only going to see one political thriller this year, pick something else. If you're only going to see one bloated Sean Penn movie where he looks in serious need of medication, this is your baby! Penn is a very good actor who does some very good work. But in this movie he decided to channel the worst parts of Howard Dean. I expected something like, 'We'll fight them in Baton Rouge! We'll fight them in Metarie! We'll fight them in Lafeyette! Yeeaaargh!'. Not that he doesn't scream and shout. He also moves his hands like he's a marionette. Bizzare. And yet I'm glad I understood most of what he said. Large portions of this movie are spoken in a thick swampy gumbo. I wanted subtitles.
But does the story save it? Nope. It wanders incoherently. At least two scenes appear to have been cut out of it. The love story seems tacked on and not taken seriously. Most of this very good cast turn in sub-par performances.
Something positive? The camera work was interesting. And the score was fine. Seriously, save your money for something else.
2 comments:
I will have to see this, to see the Baton Rouge stuff. See how acurate, and what I know.
Make sure it's a rental then. Don't waste your money at the theater. The Baton Rouge stuff is limited to a handful of scenes inside the LA capitol building. The state seal is prominently featured. You might find the Louisiana scenery interesting. But that was kind of thin gruel.
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