It’s disputed history, for one thing, which means it unnecessarily slathers genre suspense on an already overwrought, cookie-cutter and ideologically ultra-confident biography.

Benjamin, whose seven previous historical novels include stories about Manhattan socialites, Midwestern orphans and even “Alice in Wonderland,” slathers on the period detail as thickly as zinc oxide on a surfer’s nose.

Cosgrove, a soap opera veteran, slathers on the cheese in this scene and in the bedroom where true to Seema's description, he delivers an enthusiastic but unimpressive sprint to home base.

The film abandons its tempo somewhere after the eighth sunset, when the days begin to blend together and Katsoupis slathers on unnecessary hallucinations.

One room of the show is wallpapered in a printed motif of enormous leaves, smeared here and there with giant slathers of fecal brown paint, on which paintings hang.