LBJ (2017)
TOMATOMETER
AUDIENCE SCORE
Critic Consensus: LBJ loses sight of its complicated subject, ignoring the more intriguing aspects of his personality and career in favor of a frustratingly ordinary biopic treatment.
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Cast
as Lyndon Baines Johnson
as Lady Bird Johnson
as Pierre Salinger
as Ralph Yarborough
as Walter Jenkins
as John F. Kennedy
as Richard Russell
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Critic Reviews for LBJ
All Critics (79) | Top Critics (23) | Fresh (45) | Rotten (34)
Woody Harrelson in the title role has enough spice to keep the viewer alert and attentive.
The best thing the director has going for him is his star, Woody Harrelson.
It's as workmanlike as Johnson was as a politician; but as a primer on one of history's less flashy leaders, it's a worthwhile watch - mostly for fellow Texan Woody Harrelson's committed performance behind those prosthetic ears.
Captures a tumultuous political era and one of its most profanely colorful leaders with a good deal of insight and emotional torque.
Harrelson gives it all he has as the gruff, emotionally needy and politically savvy successor to the matinee-idol commander-in-chief, John F. Kennedy.
Here, Reiner's more like an efficient ride operator, unconcerned about the clankiness of the machinery but certain you'll enjoy the stuff that's supposed to work.
Audience Reviews for LBJ
From Rob Reiner comes the incredibly compelling political thriller LBJ. The story follows Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson in the mist of the Kennedy assassination as he's swept into the presidency and has to decide how to proceed with Kennedy's social agenda and what kind of president he wants to be. Starring Woody Harrelson, Jeffrey Donovan, and Jennifer Jason Leigh, the film has an impressive cast that delivers some really good performances. And, the script is especially well-written and uses flashbacks to cover Johnson's political career and history with the Kennedys. However, it kind of skirts around the Vietnam War, focusing instead on Johnson as the workhorse who turned Kennedy's dream into a reality with the Civil Rights Act of 1964. There's a rose-colored tint to LBJ, but it's still a fascinating look at the man who shepherded the country through an extraordinary crisis.
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