Killing Kennedy

2013

Killing Kennedy

Critics Consensus

No consensus yet.

Killing Kennedy Photos

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Movie Info

Based on the best-selling book by Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard, Killing Kennedy begins in 1959, at major turning points for both the future president and his assassin. John F. Kennedy (played by Emmy-award winner Rob Lowe) is in Washington, D.C., preparing to announce his presidential candidacy, while Lee Harvey Oswald finds himself in the U.S. embassy in Moscow, renouncing his U.S. citizenship. These two events start both men-one a member of one of the United States' most wealthy and powerful families, the other a disillusioned former Marine and Marxist-on a cataclysmic track that would alter the course of history. Throughout the film, we see their highs and lows, culminating in not one but two shocking deaths that stunned the nation. (c) National Geographic

Rating:

NR
Genre:

Drama
Directed By:

Nelson McCormick
Written By:

Kelly Masterson
On Disc/Streaming:

Feb 11, 2014
Runtime:

88 minutes
Studio:

National Geographic Entertainment

Watch it now

Cast

Rob Lowe
as John F. Kennedy

Ginnifer Goodwin
as Jacqueline Kennedy

Will Rothhaar
as Lee Harvey Oswald

Michelle Trachtenberg
as Marina Oswald

Critic Reviews for Killing Kennedy

All Critics (18) | Top Critics (9)

Ginnifer Goodwin as Jackie and Michelle Trachtenberg as Oswald's wife acquit themselves well in this solidly watchable, quickly forgettable dramatic snapshot of indelible history.

Nov 13, 2013 | Rating: B | Full Review…

Jeff Jensen
Entertainment Weekly
Top Critic
You won't come away from it with any new answers, but it's a useful reminder of why the drama of that day has transfixed Americans for half a century.

Nov 12, 2013 | Rating: 2.5/4 | Full Review…

David Wiegand
San Francisco Chronicle
Top Critic
The dialogue is painfully clumsy, and the pacing is pure Wikipedia.

Nov 12, 2013 | Full Review…

Hank Stuever
Washington Post
Top Critic
Killing Kennedy is subversive in a great way. The more the pathology of Oswald is developed...the more it resembles what propels many conspiracy theorists.

Nov 12, 2013 | Full Review…

Nancy DeWolf Smith
Wall Street Journal
Top Critic
Killing Kennedy easily could have been twice its length, the better to add both nuance and context. Instead it's a watchable film with many missing parts, a broadly drawn Classics Illustrated version of what happened and why.

Nov 12, 2013 | Rating: B- | Full Review…

Ed Bark
Uncle Barky
Top Critic
There's nothing terribly wrong with Killing Kennedy. We just don't need the splashes of Hollywood in a story we already know way too well.

Nov 12, 2013 | Rating: 2/5 | Full Review…

David Hinckley
New York Daily News
Top Critic
Might just be a little too sober. At times, it's almost as unbelievable as the throw-everything-against-the-wall story that Oliver Stone tells in JFK.

Feb 27, 2014 | Rating: 2.5/5 | Full Review…

Kevin Carr
7M Pictures
While there's little surprise in how it unfurls, it will still reign as the best, most attractive re-enactment of the event on tis 50th anniversary - and there will still be a lot of them.

Nov 14, 2013 | Full Review…

Roger Catlin
rogercatlin.com
Certainly a film shown during the anniversary of that sad time should make you feel something. This one doesn't.

Nov 14, 2013 | Full Review…

Adrienne Johnson
News & Observer (Raleigh, NC)
NatGeo really should have made Killing Kennedy a feature-length theatrical release, as the 95-minute run time makes the story feel too compressed.

Nov 13, 2013 | Full Review…

Paul Young
ScreenRant
By now, the beats of the Kennedy story are familiar to even the most casual student of history.

Nov 13, 2013 | Rating: 2/5 | Full Review…

Joyce Slaton
Common Sense Media
The pace and the performances carry the film.

Nov 13, 2013 | Rating: B+ | Full Review…

Mark A. Perigard
Boston Herald

View All Critic Reviews (18)

Audience Reviews for Killing Kennedy

Aug 12, 2014

Killing Kennedy is not a great drama, but for what it is, it's a pretty good one. The cast is quite impressive, and to be honest, I kind of dislike Rob Lowe. And never been a fan of his work, but here, he really impressed me. I thought he was very good as JFK and for what it is; it's a performance that can prove that the man can act. The film is a bit short, but that's alright because sometimes adding too much material presented on-screen can make the viewer lose interest. However that is not the case with Killing Kennedy. Keeping it short and sweet, this is a film that dives quickly into a thoroughly enthralling story and with some wonderful performances, more than makes up for the film's flaws. This film is quite good and it definitely deserves to be seen, even by skeptics of Lowe or Bill O'Reilly, (who is notorious for his views on his show and who wrote the book that inspired this film) will probably enjoy the film. This is a highly entertaining picture that manages to work quite well considering its limitations, and for what it is, it's a fine little film that can get viewers interested in the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy. I think that the film can get people interested in the subject here, and the film manages to be a film that should not be passed up. This is a terrific film that deserves to be seen. Sure, it's not perfect, but it's quite good at handling its subject matter.

Alex r Super Reviewer