Your RDA of Irony

All The King’s Mentions

The early advertisements for “All the King’s Men” demanded our reverence.

Adapted from the Pulitzer prize winning novel, plagiarized from the Oscar-winning film, and starring:

Sean Penn–Oscar winner.

Judd Law–Oscar nominee.

Kate Winslet–Oscar nominee married to Oscar winner Sam Mendes who went to Cambridge–the real one, not Harvard….

That certainly is an impressive pedigree. I was ready to kneel. Then, as the film began to open at theaters, came the next round of ads, the ones with the critics’ glowing praise. But the only critic quoted was Larry King….

“A masterpiece. So was the popcorn.”

“It reminds me of the time that I went golfing with Tennessee Ernie Ford.”

“A thrill a minute excitement. You’ll love the surprise ending!”

So, now we all know that the film is a disaster. But we still might see All the King’s Men–in gratitude. The studio merely has to follow the example of the Bush Administration. Assure us how this movie kept even worse films from being made. Consider these comforting ads:

He was a savior of the common people–and the Jews didn’t kill him.

Seventy years before Lindsay Lohan….

No marriages were broken up in the making of THIS film.

copyrighted 2006.

  1. Ben Wiles says:

    The Guthrie, KY Chamber of Commerce (well, a mechanic named Stan and his aunt Lisa who runs the local diner) has asked me to reassure everyone that native son and local landmark-maker Robert Penn Warren is no relation to Sean.

    For the most part people around here (Todd County) are trying to pretend this movie never happened. We are still trying to live down the whole “birthplace of Jefferson Davis” thing. Sean P.’s portrayal of Willie Stark isn’t helping much.

    -DadofTwins

  1. There are no trackbacks for this post yet.

Leave a Reply