I can't believe such a star studded cast would sign up for such a poorly written screenplay. I haven't read the book so I can't say as to whether it's a good read. The acting was almost as atrocious and heavy handed as the writing which was almost as dumb as the plot, complete with Levon Helm as a poorly cast confederate ghost. The whole movie skips around a disorganized story line while incorporating atrocious accents, names and characters. The directing was obviously awful as well. I wanted this to be good. It was not. It was surprisingly painful, to the point of hilarity if I wasn't so disappointed.