Amid the overkill, there are scenes of a sudden and startling beauty, and the impotent ranks of teachers are played by a cast of surprising (if underused) power, including Marcia Gay Harden, Christina Hendricks, Blythe Danner, William Petersen, Lucy Liu, a tweedy Tim Blake Nelson, and, best of all, James Caan.

NEWYORKER: Movies

More noteworthy are the six Keystone converts, which include South Dakota's Tim Johnson, Virginia's Mark Warner, Colorado's Michael Bennet, Florida's Bill Nelson and Delaware's Chris Coons and Tom Carper.

WSJ: Review & Outlook: The Keystone Converts

Included, along with Mary Landrieu, Claire McCaskill , Joe Manchin, Ben Nelson and Debbie Stabenow, are Sherrod Brown (Ohio), Bob Casey (Pennsylvania), Tim Johnson (South Dakota), Tom Carper (Delaware), Kent Conrad (North Dakota), Amy Klobuchar (Minnesota), Jim Webb (Virginia), Carl Levin (Michigan) and John Rockefeller (West Virginia).

FORBES: Reining In The EPA's Reign Of Error