cradle will rock is the latest effort from director/actor tim robbins . while he may have had an oscar worthy film back in 1995 ( dead man walking ) , <NEG> he gets a little overconfident and sloppy here . the story is confusing </NEG> , and filled with many subplots , so i'll try my best and explain it as simply as possible . the film is based on a " mostly " true story about a federal theater in the 1930s , that produced a play ( the cradle will rock ) that apparently was offensive to some , so the government shuts it down . it's during the time of the depression , and all this theater wants to do is entertain and cheer up those who do not have jobs , or are poor . between this conflict lies what seems like 10 subplots , about those who work in theater , or those associated . also along the way are some other messages mashed together to create an even more overwhelming experience . tim robbin's just keeps piling on political views , and characters , that we just give up on the film , or in some cases walk out . for robbin's it may be a nice achievement , but to me it seemed more like a friendly get together with slightly more sophisticated dialogue , and fancy outfits . i thought the main reason for seeing the film would be for the outstanding cast , <NEG> unfortunately are all uninteresting </NEG> , except for a few . let me recap what each important character does , so please bear with me ( it's the least you can do , especially if you were considering seeing this ) . i'll begin with those involved with the play . there's orson welles ( angus macfadyen ) who of course is the director of the play , the producer john houseman ( cary elwes ) , marc blitzstein ( hank azaria ) the writer of the play , emily watson , a woman who gets her break by playing the main part in cradle will rock . outside the play there's the : ventriloquist ( bill murray ) who wants a relationship with a federal theater clerk ( joan cusack ) , another subplot involving a painter diego rivera ( ruben blades ) who's unhappy that his painting is too be destroyed by nelson rockefeller because he feels it to be an outrage ( john cusack ) . there's a few other actresses and actors who have their own stories ( susan sarandon , philip baker hall too name a few ) but those that i mentioned , were the most significant to the story . anyway , <NEG> most of these talented hollywood stars were completely wasted </NEG> , except for emily watson , who does another great job , and one of my personal favorite actors john cusack , who always delivers through thick and thin . now although <NEG> most of the film was weak </NEG> to say the least , there were some nice moments and some involving subjects , but <NEG> all this is overblown </NEG> . sure the free speech segment was a nice feature , but not when it becomes repetitive . the whole film is like this , and <NEG> it's basically nothing but a headache </NEG> . on the brighter side , tim robbin's direction was masterful . his camera direction seemed reminiscent to the works of paul thomas anderson's latest magnolia , only smoother in my opinion , but even that can't make a movie that much better . although it has it's moments ( not many of them , but they're there ) , cradle will rock stays true to it's title , because <NEG> the cradle rocked too far and tipped over </NEG> .
