Couldn't understand it...

I agree, I couldn't understand Sean Penn. Didn't do a very good job on the accent. His sentences sounded jumbled. Otherwise, I couldn't even understand the story. Had no idea where it was going. I turned it off. Too bad because I like all those actors and actresses. Hope this dosn't discourage me from watching Sean Penn again.

Sean Penn probably worked harder and more authentically than most actors do to master the accent. When you combine an authentic Louisiana or Mississippi accent with technically crappy sound quality, your end up with a lot of garbling and inaudibility. Some accents are just not easily comprehensible to most people who don't have them. I like Monarch of the Glen, but between the heavy (and perfectly authentic) Scot accents, and the poor sound quality, most of the time I am saying to myself "what the hell did he say?". If you're interested in the story of Huey Long/Willy Stark, the TV movie from the late 90s with John Goodman in the title role is probably a lot more succinct and satisfying. Goodman deosn't lay the accent on quite as thickly, and the plotline sticks to the important stuff. In this new movie, the whole subplot of the emotional interaction between the Jude Law, Kate Winslet and Mark Ruffalo characters was simply overdone and unnecessary. We saw Kate reclining naked on a divan in Titanic, we did not really need her reclining naked, for no apparent reason, on a bed in this movie. Why was Jude Law sitting fully dressed off to the side, in the dark? I'm sorry he is apparently impotent but what the hell has that to do with the rise and fall of a Southern populist demagogue? An unfocused, wandering movie but I liked it anyway because of the acting power of the cast and my enjoyment of politics.

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Here's the thing...
I grew up in the south, my entire family is from the south. My aunts and uncles live on farms, my great-grandmother lives in a town that there is only one traffic light. My entire family and a good deal of my friends have some pretty thick accents. I have no problem understanding them. My husband has a similar family background, also with no trouble understanding the accents. Sean Penn in this movie was unintelligible. He sounded like he had been out all night drinking and was }this{ close to vomiting on himself. Half the time he looked like he was at that point as well. I loathe how actors take these parts, screw them up, and make it appear that everyone that lives in this area of the country is crooked and/or imbecilic. That ruined The Gift for me as well. *sigh*

Baroness Rodmilla De Ghent: Jacqueline, dear, do not speak unless you can improve the silence.

I just watched the whole thing with subtitles. I know it's distracting but it works and you catch everything.

I totally agree. I struggled to understand what they were saying, but that wasn't the whole problem. I just couldn't follow the story - for instance the muck that Jude Law was supposed to have found on the judge? I mean obviously the letter had something to do with it - but I have no idea what the judge had done wrong, just that it was bad enough for him to kill himself.
It was a dreadful film, sorry to say, because I rate Sean Penn - American acting at its best. Being a brit I did think it weird to have brit actors where there should have been real southerners. Bit of a waste of an evening really; should have watched something else.

i did not notice, but i always turn on the subtitle when watching a movie these days for just the reason you mention. a lot of film makers seem to think if they screw up the sound enough people will spend for two tickets to hear everything, then also throwing in confusing things, like in "there will be blood" having the two brothers being the same person ... it is all about money ... and it is corrupt ... just like this movie depicts.

Absolutely ! Very frustrating and ruined the entire film. I managed to watch half, take a break and finish the next day - that helped a little.