Aside from starring Hank Azaria, Bill Murray, Cherry Jones, both John and Joan Cusack, Susan Sarandon, John Turturro, Emily Watson, Cary Elwes, Jack Black and Kyle Gass (AKA, Tenacious D,) and Vanessa Redgrave (with a hilarious Paul Giamatti playing her sidekick,) it was written and directed by Tim Robbins. So I have no idea why the sheer star power alone in this thing didn't help get it off the ground, box-office sales-wise, let alone win it at least three Oscars. Some jerks at the IMDB message boards are claiming the movie was "boring" for the first hour, but those people don't count. Mostly because they probably can't sit still more than twenty minutes when people are talking, and therefore don't deserve to be counted.