Bobby (2006)

I applaud intentions. Ambitious and all the rest but, Oh dear, Oh dear...The work from an artist of the TV generation. Everything reeks of TV. The banality of the interconnecting stories seem destined for an audience who has never read a book. Huge demographic, I agree, but Oh dear, Oh dear I didn't know if to escape after Freddy Rodriguez and his friend discuss the plea of the Mexicans or just before Helen Hunt realizes she didn't bring her black shoes. I think, and please forgive the impertinence, this would have worked much better as a TV miniseries. At least it would have reached the natural targeted audience and I would never have seen it. Oh well, too late I guess

Fmovies: 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.

BOBBY as written and directed (and starring) Emilio Estevez is not simply a recreation of the fateful night June 6, 1968 when Bobby Kennedy was shot, though that event is meticulously dissected as the sun dawns on Los Angeles' Ambassador Hotel on that day. This film is a series of vignettes of the lives of many people (22 examples shine) whose hope for a better future than that of a country undergoing disintegration on many levels were shattered. It is about 'little people', people with choices whose responses to the death of a hero is devastating.

Racism (Christian Slater vs Laurence Fishburne vs interaction with Freddy Rodríguez and Jacob Vargas); hippie/white collar drug abuse (Ashton Kutcher dealing LSD to Brian Geraghty and Shia LaBeouf, Demi Moore's alcoholism defeating her marriage to Emilio Estevez and career as a lounge singer); aging and the problems of 'useless old people' (Harry Belafonte and Anthony Hopkins); adultery (hotel manager William Macy married to beautician Sharon Stone yet having an affair with switchboard operator Heather Graham); marriages teetering on commercialism (Martin Sheen and Helen Hunt); young political aspirants basing futures on RFK (Joshua Jackson and Nick Cannon); and the extremes to which young men will go to avoid being sent to Vietnam (Elijah Wood and Lindsay Lohan) - these are the main characters we get to know as they prepare for the evening's party for RFK and then suffer the explosive effect of the shooting by Sirhan Sirhan (David Kobzantsev). The power of the film lies in the impact Bobby Kennedy had on all of these people who represent the rest of a nation.

Estevez wisely uses film footage from life to project the speech and presence of RFK: using an actor to depict him would have made the effect less sharp. But in the end, as it seems apparent from Estevez' script, the power comes from the messages in the voice-over of Kennedy's own speeches, words to offer hope and a chance for resolution of the many conflicts that threatened to destroy the US. Would that there were minds with such thoughts speaking today when a leader is so desperately needed! The film has flaws (it would be difficult for a two hour enactment of a well known yet partially fictionalized incident not to). But the message is pungent and clear: we MUST care for each other as a country and forgo the alienation that is so rampant. A very fine film for thought. Grady Harp

Bobby fmovies. It's easy to get caught up in the "too many characters" argument or that there are too many stories left unfinished or incomplete. IMO, it's important to remember this is a snapshot of just ONE day. How much are we expected to know about any of the characters in that time period? How much do you learn about the guy sitting next to you on the plane with whom you visit during a three hour flight? I admit that at first I was thinking, "Okay Emilio, where are you going with this and why do I care about all these people?" It seemed a little disjointed to me. But then I found myself going with it and appreciating the idea that we were getting a glimpse into the lives of a few of the people at the Ambassador hotel that day. I thought the performances by all were very strong, although I'll admit it was next to impossible to get beyond the all-star cast, simply because the plot isn't structured to bring you close enough to the characters to lose sight of who is playing the role. But again, in the end it didn't matter because the artistry of it all--the music, the camera shots, the inclusion of film and audio footage of Bobby Kennedy, the significance of these characters we've been following throughout... it just worked for me. It is also hard to ignore how much RFK's message resonates in our political climate today. As the credits rolled, at least half of the audience remained in their seats, from those sitting in stunned silence to others almost sobbing. Complete strangers were gathered outside the theater, talking about the movie or their own memories of Kennedy. It is clearly a labor of love for Emilio but I think he did a fabulous job.

I saw the movie "Bobby" as part of the Vienna International Film Festival last week and thought it was an incredibly powerful film. The movie focuses on around 20 people in and around the Ambassador Hotel the day that Robert Kennedy was shot there. The large cast never seems overwhelming. The characters are clear enough that we remember what they were doing the last time we saw them, but we never feel like they are merely one-dimensional. Emilio Estevez really hit the jackpot with his cast - they all are 100% committed to their roles and the audience simply gets lost in the era.

The cast is phenomenal - the standouts include Sharon Stone (who has a a chance at a Supporting Actress Oscar nomination if the Academy can overlook Basic Instinct 2), Nick Cannon as a young Black-American working on the campaign, and Freddy Rodriguez as a young Latino working in the kitchen. The later two, combined with Lindsey Lohan as a woman marrying to save a man's life, serve as the heart of the movie and bring a well-balanced view of many of the hot issues of the day.

The movie has an incredible, emotional climax that is enhanced by an actual speech of Bobby Kennedy. The audio and visual clips of Kennedy serve as snapshots into his life and the work he did during his short time in the public eye. You can read whatever you want to into the political agenda of the movie, but in the end this movie is a tribute to Robert F. Kennedy and his time.

"Bobby" brings you back (if you were ever there) to the 60s, when those who protested the Vietnam War and racial injustice were motivated from their heart and torn by anger and grief in their efforts to change both. Yes the ensemble characters in the film are quite ordinary and their (sometimes) tawdry or pathetic shortcomings all too obvious and easy to sneer at, yet who could not recognize themselves in one or more of these vignettes. Robert Kennedy's assassination was felt by those who cared about him or his mission to the presidency as a deep wound to our own vision of a more compassionate and just America. The pettiness and simplicity of the characters in this movie are expertly directed to reveal our own pettiness and let us identify with them, if not consciously, then unconsciously. Remember, the top Hollywood actors in this movie were paid basic union scale (virtually free for them) so this was made for love. Our own little soap operas are put into such deep perspective that when he is killed, so were we, or at least the film lets you feel that. You find yourself loving this man, Robert Kennedy, for what he stood for and what he said during his candidacy, which is brilliantly threaded throughout the movie in his own words. The humanity you discover in him is of course your own humanity and isn't it refreshing to cry for yourself and your lost dreams as you cry for his.