This is more about killing time, than killing Kennedy.
Bobby (2006)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:161
Fresh:72
Rotten:89
Average Rating:5.6/10
Consensus: Despite best intentions from director Emilio Estevez and his ensemble cast, they succumb to a script filled with pointless subplots and awkward moments working too hard to parallel contemporary times.
Runtime: 2 hrs
Genre: Dramas
Theatrical Release:Nov 17, 2006 Limited
Box Office: $11,098,707
Synopsis: An ambitious labor of love from writer/director/star Emilio Estevez, BOBBY attempts to distill the hope, anger, and confusion that gripped the U.S. in the late 1960s. With the civil rights movement... An ambitious labor of love from writer/director/star Emilio Estevez, BOBBY attempts to distill the hope, anger, and confusion that gripped the U.S. in the late 1960s. With the civil rights movement still reeling from the murder of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the country embroiled in the confusion of Vietnam, Senator Robert F. Kennedy's campaign preached a message of peace and tolerance. In a style similar to the sprawling works of Robert Altman or Paul Thomas Anderson, Estevez uses the June 4th, 1969, assassination of Kennedy at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles as the means to take a snapshot of the problems facing the country as the 1960's came to an end. The hotel is a microcosm of class and race, with characters bouncing off each other until the violent conclusion. African-American head chef Edward (Laurence Fishburne) presides over a kitchen staffed primarily by Mexican Americans who are the victims of the racist restaurant manager, Timmons (Christian Slater). Timmons is reprimanded by hotel manager Paul Ebbers (William H. Macy), who is having an affair with a switchboard operator (Heather Graham) behind the back of his beautician wife (Sharon Stone). Meanwhile, a young Diane (Lindsay Lohan) prepares to marry her classmate, William (Elijah Wood), in order to save him from going to Vietnam, and two collegiate campaigners for Senator Kennedy remove their ties to take their first LSD trip, courtesy of a resident hippie drug dealer (Ashton Kutcher). Though the sheer volume of characters--and celebrities portraying them--is often overwhelming, Estevez is deft at making each plot thread convincing and involving. Though BOBBY is not a biopic and will in no way be mistaken for the definitive statement on the man or his life and times, it is thoroughly adept at distilling both his message and the time in which he fought to deliver it. [More]
Starring: Anthony Hopkins, Demi Moore, Sharon Stone, Elijah Wood
Starring: Anthony Hopkins, Demi Moore, Sharon Stone, Elijah Wood, Harry Belafonte, Nick Cannon, Emilio Estevez, Laurence Fishburne, Heather Graham, Helen Hunt, Ashton Kutcher, Shia LaBeouf, William H. Macy
Director: Emilio Estevez
Director: Emilio Estevez
Producer: Ed Bass, Holly Wiersma
Composer: Mark Isham
Studio: Weinstein Company
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Reviews for Bobby
Estevez wants to imply that Kennedy had something to give every American (Republicans, perhaps, excepted), but too few of the people in this movie are brought fully enough to life for that to ring much more resonantly than a campaign slogan.
Estevez means well. But having your heart in the right place is no excuse for insipid ineptitude.
an excruciatingly slow, uninvolving, story of a bunch of imaginary people about which I cared not a whit...a disappointing job of recreating the Cocoanut Grove; how much could a couple of fake palm trees cost?
Estevez has pulled together the best political drama, fiction or otherwise, in recent memory. Avoiding Oliver Stone-like conspiracy theories, he draws from Robert Altman's playbook.
Bobby doesn't get everything right but when Estevez allows his images and the reality of his characters do the talking, the film works with indelible cogency.
As a reminder of a historical tragedy wrapped up in a pop movie so as to appeal to a later generation, I pat Estevez on the back. But, as disaster vessels go, this one's sunk.
Emilio Estevez's Bobby tests your patience to the breaking point -- maybe beyond.
The archival Kennedy clips aside, the excited radiance of these young characters' faces (and many of them are just extras) may be the best thing about Bobby.
Despite its flaws, its intriguing premise leaves us haunted by thoughts of 'What if?'
Emilio Estevez's lament for the lost ideals of the ’60s draws heavily from the Robert Altman playbook.
The best anyone can say about Bobby is that writer/director Emilio Estevez's heart is in the right place.
Bobby, which reportedly is going to receive a huge push for the Oscars, is one of the year's worst movies.
For all its flaws, Bobby is a heartfelt and undeniably relevant project.
A poignant and heart-rending drama about the hopes, dreams, anger, and righteous indignation of those who saw in Robert Kennedy a catalyst for justice, change, and peace in America.
Poignant yet fragmented - with trivial, star-studded subplots - it unabashedly idealizes RFK, presenting him in an almost saintly light.
Star power alone pushes Bobby to a point where it's a comfortable failure,
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