All the King's Men

Just saw All the King's Men (2006). I haven't yet read the novel, but rest assured, I will. The film was panned by critics though I think it did a bit of box office. I loved it. We have the Christopher Marlowe Faustus tale, mixed in with the American democratic metanarrative, combined with individuals with disordered goods, Neitzsche, Dante, Beatrice and Sean Penn. What more can you ask for? Oh, and I forgot the Freud (killing the father), the Rene Girard (violence), the Kennedy assassination, and the great camera work. Wow, did the critics suck hole on that one!