I can’t recall a film that brings together so many elite actors, which is precisely the description of “Bobby.” The cast is packed with Hollywood A-listers, both young (Lindsay Lohan, Nick Cannon) and older (Martin Sheen, Anthony Hopkins). What brought all of these actors together is likely the same thing that brought all of their characters in the movie together: respect for Robert Kennedy. They certainly didn’t do it for the screen time. Actors such as Hopkins, Demi Moore, Sharon Stone and Harry Belafonte can all carry movies by themselves, as they have proven so many times, but in this film, they all play second fiddle to the only true main character, Bobby Kennedy himself.
The movie mixes archival footage of Kennedy throughout the movie, but very seamlessly, making the actors and the attendees of the rally nearly indistinguishable. This is a very strong point in the film.
The characters are very different, and are from all backgrounds and walks of life, which emphasizes the breadth of Kennedy’s influence and draw. Like “Crash,” the story drifts between all these characters, to emphasize a greater theme than the stories in their own lives.
The thing that makes this movie dark is the eventual and inevitable shooting of the main character that everyone knows is coming. In that sense, it could be compared to “Titanic,” in the way that no matter how pleasant the story and characters are, the knowledge of impending doom and life-altering heartache is always in the back of one’s mind.
One very memorable character that stands out among the cast is the hippie drug-dealer, played by Ashton Kutcher. He is definitely there to portray the psychedelic aspect of “acid-dropping hippies” that was so much a part of 1968, but his fake wig and outlandish outfit make him a caricature of the movement, and unbelievable. Although his scenes provide some of the sparsely used (but well used for that matter) comic relief, I couldn’t stop thinking that he was going to tear off the wig and “Punk” some other characters. He is really the only character that seems a little out of place, but his role is still necessary and, at times, hysterical.
The film encompasses the variety of issues that were present at the time (civil rights, women’s rights, Vietnam). In showing these issues through the characters, Emilio Estevez (the film’s writer and director, essentially the film’s father) is able to show the other uniting theme between everyone in the film– hope. Each character has hope in some incarnation, and his portrayal of this idea is one of the strongest points in the movie. Hope for the future, hope for his place in society, hope for good government, hope for a successful career, hope in a new era. And that’s really what Bobby Kennedy embodied. After the assassinations of his brother and Martin Luther King Jr., he was the last chance for an ideal that was quickly being overshadowed by a failing war and a lack of a bright future. For many reasons, that is what makes this film so timely– the parallels between that time and what is going on now in American politics. In both instances, the American society is sick of a falsely motivated war that is not being successfully won, and on the brink of an election, is looking for hope in new candidates.
The fact that the story is based around a true event makes it that much more effective. This movie will probably bring you to tears if you were around and can remember June, 1968, and might even do so if you are too young to remember.
Great acting, great writing, great directing: great film.
4*/5*
