Bobby (2006)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

Emilio Estevez

Writer (WGA):

Emilio Estevez (written by)

Release Date:

23 November 2006 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Tagline:

He saw wrong and tried to right it. He saw suffering and tried to heal it. He saw war and tried to stop it.

Plot:

The story of the assassination of U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy who was shot in the early morning hours of June 5, 1968 in the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, and 22 people in the hotel whose lives were never the same.

Plot Keywords:

Hotel | Campaign | 1968 | Lounge | Friend

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Golden Globes. Another 3 wins & 11 nominations

Cast

Harry Belafonte	...	Nelson
Joy Bryant	...	Patricia
Nick Cannon	...	Dwayne
Emilio Estevez	...	Tim
Laurence Fishburne	...	Edward
Brian Geraghty	...	Jimmy
Heather Graham	...	Angela
Anthony Hopkins	...	John
Helen Hunt	...	Samantha
Joshua Jackson	...	Wade
David Krumholtz	...	Agent Phil
Ashton Kutcher	...	Fisher
Shia LaBeouf	...	Cooper
Lindsay Lohan	...	Diane
William H. Macy	...	Paul

MPAA:

Rated R for language, drug content and a scene of violence.

Runtime:

120 min | Italy:112 min (Venice Film Festival) | Canada:112 min (Toronto International Film Festival)

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Spanish

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

SDDS | Dolby Digital | DTS

Certification:

Finland:K-11 | Netherlands:12 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | Australia:M | Ireland:15A | Singapore:NC-16 | Malaysia:(Banned) | Germany:12 | USA:R (certificate #43067) | New Zealand:M | Portugal:M/12 | Sweden:7 | Brazil:14

Filming Locations:

Ambassador Hotel - 3400 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Weinstein Company, The

Trivia:

Emilio Estevez had a hard time coming up with funding for this movie. When he was on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno (November 2006), he said that he had to sell his artwork and other material items just to have enough money to fund this picture.

Goofs:

Continuity: In the opening sequence, Jose puts on his white jacket, buttons it at the neck and the collar is tucked in at the back. During the scene the collar becomes straight without his intervention.

Quotes:

Dwayne: Now that Dr. King is gone, nobody left but Bobby. Nobody.

Movie Connections:

Featured in 13th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards (2007) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Tuesday Afternoon (Forever Afternoon)

Tedious hagiographic ensemble piece

What is it about L.A and ensemble films? The Player, Short Cuts, Crash...Emilio Estevez makes a ham-fisted attempt to fashion a memoriam to the ill-fated brother of JFK using the multi-strand plot and character technique associated with Robert Altman. But Estevez clearly lacks Altman's ability to maintain interest and build character through the use of trivialities, revelations and encounters as the film progresses.

The premise is the 'last day in the life of' Bobby Kennedy as he campaigns in the California Primary of 1968. Except, it's the goings on in the Ambassador Hotel, where he will be shot that evening, that feature rather than the character itself. It's a structural device, perhaps even influenced by the obvious and somewhat alienating reverence that Estevez has for Kennedy.

Excerpts of speeches and public reactions to his visit are inter-cut into the movie, that almost portray him as this Ghandi-like presence, on the cusp of commencing a national transformation that will not only end the war in Vietnam but apparently bring an end to 'hatred and violence' and a new sense of community. What is overlaid across the film with the intent of being inspirational, often comes across as simplistic. Estevez simply does not have a sufficiently detached critical sense to connect to more sceptical viewers. L.A liberals and ageing hippies will of course by weeping into their popcorn buckets.

However, there are a couple of nice turns, which you inevitably get in a film with such a cast. Mentionably, Sharon Stone, whose jaded beautician provides a relatable, pathetic character amongst a range of cyphers who are basically inserted to represent the body politic - old and young, black, white and Hispanic, druggie and idealist.

The final portion is compelling and well shot but the rest of the movie, despite it's attempt to portray America poised on a knifedge, as Kennedy would have it, lacks zest.