Merrick here...
Balls Cheney sent in this look at BOBBY, an examination of the impact of Robert Kennedy's assassination on a group of "ordinary" Americans.
The film is written and directed by Emilio Estevez, and stars William H. Macy, Laurence Fishburne, Christian Slater, Harry Belafonte, Anthony Hopkins, Elijah Wood, Lindsay Lohan, Demi Moore, Nick Cannon, Estevez, Heather Graham, Martin Sheen, and Ashton Kutcher. And...more...believe it or not.
IMDB lists this film's release date as November 22, which is the date on which JOHN Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. I'm hoping this information is wrong; seems odd to release a movie about the assassination of one Kennedy on the date that another Kennedy was murdered. And, there's something unagreeably sensationalistic (even a little goulish) about capitalizing on such a date -- this might undercut the perception of a film that, from early indications, appears to be thoughtful and generally well-considered.
Here's Balls Cheney...
So, last night (Tuesday) here in New York City, an advanced/test screening of a “work-print” for the new Emilio Estevez written and directed film called Bobby was held.
The Bobby of the title refers not to the British slang term for police officers, but to the also-assassinated younger brother of John F, Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, known to most as Bobby Kennedy, or just simply as Bobby.
However, before you start bemoaning yet another bio-flick chronicling the amazing life and untimely death of still another public figure, rest assured that this film is NOT one of those. What Bobby is, is an often-times interestingly touching portrait of 20 ordinary people whose lives where directly affected by the cold-blooded killing of Bobby Kennedy.
But, before you start believing that the film seeks out to repeatedly replay the tragic events of June 6th, 1968 in order to show how said events forever altered the lives of these regular folks, think again, bud.
Instead, Bobby focuses on the day leading up to the assassination, and depicts how these various individuals, all from different walks of life, converged at the crossroads of hope and despair on that sad night in Los Angeles’ Ambassador Hotel. In fact, the film ends shortly after Sirhan Sirhan shoots Bobby Kennedy dead…. How’s that for a happy ending, huh?
An all-star cast was assembled for Bobby, no doubt wrangled together and forced to play nice by Boss Hog’s and Yankees owner George Steinbrenner’s love child, Harvey Weinstein. In no particular order, the players in this ensemble piece are as follows: William H. Macy, Sharon Stone, Christian Slater, Anthony Hopkins, Freddy Rodriguez (Rico from Six Feet Under), Nick Cannon, Elijah Wood, Lindsay Lohan, Demi Moore, Harry Belafonte, Heather Graham, Emilio Estevez, Martin Sheen (director’s dad), Laurence Fishburne, and Ashton Kutcher just to name a few.
Wow, that cast sounds like a steroid-fueled muscular flex for Academy Awards recognition later this year…. Impressive round-up, indeed. But, are any of them, or any of the rest of the unmentioned all-stars any good?...
Well, for the most part, yes….. One glaring exception that comes to mind is Elijah Wood, who I just couldn’t buy in the role he was cast in. His scenes with Lohan, his bride-to-be in the film, come off as one-sided and well…. wooden….. Yeah, that pun is intended….
Aside, from Wood and a tad bit of over acting on the part of Nick Cannon (which I believe can be salvaged with a little bit of creative editing) the “work-print,” seemed pretty well put together.
Emilio Estevez as a filmmaker does a good job of finding the proper mix of filmmaking style to compliment the acting, knowing full well when to let the actors do that thing they get paid so well to do with no help from filmmaking tricks of the trade. While at the same time, his addition of actual Bobby Kennedy television campaign ads from the California primary was a damn cool touch. It really helped drive home the point that Robert F. Kennedy represented a great hope for the future of our nation…. A future that we never got to experience…. Of course, there is no way of knowing whether, or not an RFK Presidency would have lived up to all of the hype. Heck, for all we know, it could have been the worst thing that could have happened to the country.
However, what is known is that at a time in our nation’s history where it seemed like we, as Americans, were tearing ourselves apart, Bobby Kennedy seemed like one of the few public figures who could bring all of the broken pieces together again into a whole that was greater than before…. At least that’s the impression that I got, which I believe is what Estevez was trying to convey.
….Wait a minute…. I think I’ve been brain-washed by the Liberal Estevez/Sheen Machine: RFK was the second coming. RFK was the second coming. RFK was the second coming…
Oh, here are some little tidbits of information that I discovered from watching Bobby:
Artist Andy Warhol was shot (although, not fatally) the day prior to Bobby getting shot.
Dodger’s pitcher Don Drysdale set a record of six straight shutout baseball games the night Bobby was killed.
Apparently, during the Viet Nam Conflict married soldiers, assuming they where married before getting drafted, would get posted to Germany instead of going to the front lines of the conflict in Southeast Asia.
Robert F. Kennedy, born into American royalty, wealthy pretty-boy type, the younger brother of a president, himself the next in line to the American Throne,… I meant presidency, laid dying in a hotel kitchen…. in the arms of a bus-boy….. of Mexican descent…. All the while, other victims of that same shooting lay spread around that same hotel kitchen completely ignored by most people who were all focused on getting Bobby the medical attention he needed….
However, in the end, I really liked what I saw in this “work-print” of Bobby and I hope that any changes made by the filmmakers do not take away from the emotional impact of the film. I can see this film in the running for an Oscar later this year. However, given that Crash won last year, I doubt the powers that be will want to give the next Best Picture award to another ensemble piece…. I don’t know.
That’s just my take on it….
