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Release Date: November 17th, 2006 (AMC/Loews Lincoln Square November 23rd, 2006 (Wide) by The Weinstein Company. The Cast: Harry Belafonte, Joy Bryant, Nick Cannon, Emilio Estevez, Laurence Fishburne, Brian Geraghty, Heather Graham, Anthony Hopkins, Helen Hunt, Joshua Jackson, David Krumholtz, Ashton Kutcher, Shia LaBeouf, Lindsay Lohan, William H. Macy, Svetlana Metkina, Demi Moore, Freddy Rodriguez, Martin Sheen, Sharon Stone, Christian Slater, Jacob Vargas, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Elijah Wood. Directed by Emilio Estevez. BASIC PREMISE: The events surrounding the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy in 1968 affects the lives on many at the Ambassador Hotel where he was shot. ENTERTAINMENT VALUE: For a film with a title referring to Bobby Kennedy, it’s amazing how seldom the characters mention him. Paul (Macy), the Ambassador Hotel’s manager, fires the manager (Slater) of his kitchen staff (Fishburne and Rodriguez) for racism. Meanwhile, John (Hopkins) chats with his friend, Nelson (Belafonte) in the lobby. Miriam (Stone), a beautician, chats with singer Virginia Fallon (Moore) while fixing up her hair in the salon. The list of characters goes on and on with the weakest link being Nick Cannon as a Kennedy aide who hopes to be the head of the department of transportation if Kennedy wins—he also wants to impress a beautiful girl (Bryant). Ashton Kutcher plays a hippie drug dealer which feels reminiscent of his performance in Dude, Where's My Car?. Also, the subplot regarding Diane (Lohan) who marries William (Wood) doesn’t add anything interesting. Writer/director Emilio Estevez does a great job of hiding Robert F. Kennedy from during the live scenes so that he wouldn’t need to hire a look-alike to play him. He incorporates some news footage to make it look as if Bobby were actually there. Unfortunately, the different yet somewhat connected subplots aren’t fleshed out enough. The scenes work best individually, but, as a whole they fall apart from being too convoluted, even in the inevitably tragic third act. At least with such a huge, variegated cast, it’s comforting to know that Bobby has a running time of just 111 minutes. SPIRITUAL VALUE: Unfortunately, none. INSULT TO YOUR INTELLIGENCE: A convoluted plot. NUMBER OF TIMES I CHECKED MY WATCH: 4 IN A NUTSHELL: Mildly engaging with a terrific ensemble cast, but suffers under the weight of its convoluted plot. RECOMMENDED WAY TO WATCH: VHS/DVD Main Page Alphabetical Menu Chronological Menu The "B" Menu ______________________________________________________ |
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