Bobby
Friday, 26 Jan 2007 10:51
Lindsay Lohan and Elijah Wood have a marriage of convenience to avoid Vietnam service
Directed and written by Emilio Estevez, out January 26th at the cinema, starring Lindsay Lohan, Christian Slater, Laurence Fishburne, Sharon Stone, running time 120 mins.
In a nutshell…
All-star cast. Saccharine. Patchwork quilt narrative.
What's it all about?
In essence it's about the assassination of the US senator Robert Kennedy as he embarked on a seemingly unlosable presidential campaign in 1968; with the country he wanted to run in the midst of a deeply unpopular war in Vietnam. But this is no JFK. The eponymous Kennedy makes but a fleeting appearance in the film despite his presence hanging heavy throughout.
Instead, Estevez, whose past exploits include the badly-received 1990 comedy Men at Work, has brought together a group of A-list actors as he seeks to recreate what happened that fateful night in June through the eyes of a disparate group of Americans. It's Crash-like in its attempt to put the pieces of the jigsaw together during the film, but it's sometimes difficult to see past the conveyor-belt of celebs that appear on screen.
Perhaps inevitably, the dramatic conclusion – that of the aforementioned Mr Kennedy being shot dead in the kitchen of the Ambassador Hotel by Sirhan Sirhan– is tinged, even enveloped, in tearful nostalgia. Indeed, there is such a rose-tinted gloss at times that it is difficult to remember you are supposed to be watching something based on fact. Still, it brings a tear to the eye and a whole host of questions to the mind.
Who's in it?
Who isn't? Estevez appears to have left no stone unturned in his efforts to fill his cast with superstars – and it is surely to his credit that he succeeded in drawing them all in.
We have Anthony Hopkins as a retired hotel worker who doesn't seem to know what to do other than play chess and order coffee. Lindsay Lohan and Elijah Wood are the young couple set for a marriage of convenience to ensure he doesn't face the terrors of south-east Asia. Sharon Stone is a hairdresser to the stars whose marriage to Martin Sheen is about to be wrecked by Heather Graham.
Demi Moore drinks too much, cries a lot, but still manages to perform on the stage – in no small part down to the efforts of her downtrodden agent-cum-husband (Estevez). Christian Slater is the hated kitchen boss who watches over Laurence Fishburne – in Matrix-like mode when it comes to spouting profound nonsense - and Freddy Rodriguez in the race-fuelled melting pot of the hotel.
The list goes on: William Macy is the hotel manager; Helen Hunt is worried about her shoes; Ashton Kutcher is a drug-dealing hippy; Joshua Jackson is an oh-so-hopeful Kennedy campaign manager; and so on, and so on.
Because of the sheer weight of numbers, there are no truly memorable performances. There is only so much you can do with a 22nd of the limelight.
As an example…
Diane (Lohan): "If marrying you tonight keeps you from going to Vietnam, then it's worth it."
Virginia (Moore): "People come to see me. People love me! So if I want to have a f***ing drink, then I am going to have a f***ing drink... because I deserve it!"
Likelihood of a trip to the Oscars
Bobby missed out on the Academy Awards and it's not entirely hard to see why. It's not exactly been universally acclaimed and Estevez certainly hasn't done the time in Tinseltown to get a look-in on the best director front.
It did, however, get two nominations at the Golden Globes – for best motion picture and best original song – and a smattering of minor awards, which is perhaps as much as it could have reasonably expected.
What the others say
"Estevez's hope is that each character in Bobby represents a different facet of America in 1968, so that together they offer a composite view of a nation on the cusp of change – should Kennedy have lived and won the 1968 presidential election. It's an ambitious, even admirable idea that isn't matched by the script." – Time Out.
"Bobby plays like a cliched 1970s disaster flick - think The Towering Inferno - with the emotional heft of The Love Boat and the compromised truth of hagiography. Estevez means well. But having your heart in the right place is no excuse for insipid ineptitude." – Rolling Stone.
"The profound grip of Bobby is that it's about the murder of a dream, an eloquent requiem for what might have been, and a tragic reminder of how much that bullet cost." - Times
So is it any good?
If you believe many critics then this film is as sickly as supersweet toffee and as meaningful as relying on Dad's Army for a lesson in second world war history. But, despite its undoubtedly saccharine ending, there is a something in Estevez's wistful and wishful portrayal of the man who may have changed the course of American history.
Yes, there is much to scoff at and, yes, there are just too many egos competing for attention but there is a story to be told and Estevez does it in a certain style. It's compelling viewing and it is impossible not to be moved in some way by the film's climax. The Kennedys meant a lot to a lot of people and would surely have played a part in creating an altogether different America had they only had the chance to live.
Estevez makes that point – if at times with pick-axe-like subtlety – and produces a film that is worth seeing in its own right. An emotional series of What Ifs.
It can be sometimes hard to distance oneself from the contrast to the way someone like Paul Greengrass dealt with the subject matter he was presented with in United 93 in such a matter-of-fact way, devoid of all sentimentality, but that is an unfair comparison. Estevez made the choice to go down the ensemble cast route and it is certainly as much miss as hit, but he does not pretend this is an insightful look at Kennedy's life and politics.
The characters are almost all fictional and the story is imagined - and there lies the salient point. This is not history. This is a trip back in time and a longing for what might have been.
7/10
Martin Ashplant
"I thought that this was a stunning movie. It was gripping,beautiful, and heartbreaking at the same time. The acting was amazing. It is one of those movies that strengthens you." - Emma Fuller