BOBBY
BOBBY: BEST OF INTENTIONS BUT DOESN’T WIN THE RACE
Bobby is the product of known actor Emilio Estevez. Estevez wrote and directed the film. He has gathered his actor friends (too many to count) to collaborate on a film about a man who was ready to change the world during desperate times. He counts on big names to attract an audience. But what you get a moviegoer get is clichéd characters and in your face visuals so we are clear as to what era it is. The ending of the movie brings the film together but doesn’t rescue it.
The location is the Ambassador Hotel, Los Angeles. The date is June 6, 1968. Employees of the Ambassador are bustling, awaiting the arrival of President hopeful Bobby Kennedy. Jose (Freddy Rodriguez) is a kitchen worker who just wants to go to a Dodger game. Retired doorman John Casey (Anthony Hopkins) doesn’t want to go home. Hair stylist Miriam (Sharon Stone) is married to manager Paul (William H. Macy), who is having an affair with switchboard operator Angela (Heather Graham). There is racist kitchen boss Timmons (Christian Slater) who has just been fired. Couple Diane and William (Lindsay Lohan and Elijah Wood) are getting married so William doesn’t have to go to Vietnam. Married couple Samantha and Jack (Helen Hunt and Martin Sheen, Estevez’s real life dad) are trying to work through their problems. These are just a few of the 22 people who are at the Ambassador on the day that Kennedy was assassinated.
The story does a good job of introducing us to these numerous personalities. Sadly, it doesn’t seem to have a point. We know that these people were there that day. But that doesn’t make us care about them. They are there to be obvious, spelling out what is wrong with the world at that time. It doesn’t leave a lot to the imagination. Kitchen workers discuss racism. Earnest young men taking LSD. A couple getting married to avoid the groom being placed at the front line of the war. The acting is good but not spectacular. Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher are a match made in acting hell. She as a depressed celebrity who can’t handle her liquor and he as the token hippie who sells drugs out of his hotel room. Visuals are shown through the hotel, costumes and makeup. The interior design of the hotel is mod like. Short dresses, bouffant hairdos, and cat eyeliner scream late 60s. Footage of Kennedy is played throughout, to remind you who this is about. The ending shows all the players coming together. All are affected, some more than others. It is done nicely. The devastation of the country is felt in the kitchen of the Ambassador. But the movie would have done better on television.
If the entire movie was done like the ending it would be a compelling statement on the politics of that time. It would have made it more relatable.
Unnecessary dialogue between characters let us know the state of the country on that sad day. This, among other things, needed to be more understated. This wasn’t big enough for the big screen, despite its big names.
Report Card:
Story-C+
Acting-C+
Visuals-C
Originality/Innovation-C-
Enjoyability Grade–C
DVD Extras-C
Overall Grade-C+
|
