Bobby (2006)

So much average

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

Bobby (2006): Dir: Emilio Estevez / Cast: William H. Macy, Demi Moore, Christian Slater, Anthony Hopkins, Lindsay Lohan: Intriguing ensemble drama regarding the events occurring during the assassination of Senator Robert F. Kennedy in June of 1968. While the election is in full throttle a hotel prepares for the arrival of the Senator and the screenplay examines and explores various individuals involved. Emilio Estevez handles the difficult material evenly and is backed with a fantastic ensemble cast. William H. Macy plays the hotel manager in the midst of an affair. Christian Slater plays the head of kitchen staff who is fired for refusing a Mexican off time to vote. Demi Moore plays a drunken singer haunted with the reality of getting older. Anthony Hopkins plays a retired host who has seen it all during his long career but he sees the hotel as home. Lindsay Lohan is even given a great dramatic stretch as one of the hotel visitors. There is footage of Kennedy himself and his message of hope that was dispatched. However, this is not about Kennedy but about the people at the hotel during the event and how it effected them and seemingly brought them all together under one tragic moment. Despite their individual traumas the film stresses that it was the big picture around them that would haunted newspapers and embed our memories. Score: 10 / 10

Writer-director-co-star Emilio Estevez takes a tragic, emotional event in American history--the June 5th, 1968 assassination of Senator Robert Kennedy by Sirhan Sirhan--and attempts to build a kaleidoscope of stories around it, giving personalities to the faces in the crowd that fateful night at Los Angeles' Ambassador Hotel. Curiously, Estevez chose not to focus on Kennedy (who is represented by newsreel footage), nor on Sirhan Sirhan, but on fictional (or fictionalized) characters such as a young couple marrying to keep the husband out of Vietnam; two young campaign workers who drop acid and spend the entire day goofing off; a Hispanic busboy at the hotel, fighting for equality and hoping to get the night off to see the Dodgers play; a beautician whose husband is cheating on her; and so on. With such a horrible tragedy looming over the third act of the picture, it's rather difficult to care about what color shoes Helen Hunt wears, or whether Lindsay Lohan's parents will turn up at her ceremony. Estevez has his heart in the right place (and his visual eye is impressive), but the screenplay is shallow and turgid, laughably underlined with a kind of political correctness which is supposed to make the picture seem relevant but is instead anachronistic. Star-studded cast generally fails to make an impression, though again this is the fault of the writing. ** from ****

I have mixed feelings about this movie. A lot of the scenes have nothing to do with Senator Kennedy - so the word fill-in comes to mind. However these scenes are well-done and keep you interested - Demie Moore as a drunk was quite hilarious. Perhaps the movie should have been called 'Ambassador Hotel'. For more about Senator Kennedy see a documentary on PBS. Also as I was watching the movie I felt it would have been more interesting to have a movie on the day after, rather than prior to the assassination. It must have been very traumatic for all those in the hotel who showed up for work the next day. The scenes at the end of the movie are riveting and heart-breaking.

I wish this movie was about Bobby Kennedy. It certainly ends up with some excellent speeches by him. In fact, the majesty of Bobby's vision at the end of the movie overpowers the all of the previous parts of the movie.Instead the movie is about the people at the hotel on the day he died. And then it drops their stories cold once Kennedy is shot. It is not a good story, political commentary or documentary. Despite an excellent cast, it is weak as water. Emilio won't find himself producing another movie soon.More text required. More text added here.