Bobby (2006)

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 | Senator | Vietnam

Awards:

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

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

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

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

SDDS | Dolby Digital | DTS

Certification:

Finland:K-11 | Netherlands:12 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | 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 | South Korea:15 | UK:15

Filming Locations:

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

Company:

Weinstein Company, The

Trivia:

The character Lindsay Lohan portrayed was based on the desk clerk at the motel where Emilio Estevez wrote part of the script.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: The Ambassador Hotel's lobby scene, in which John Casey and Nelson talk, shows Casey wearing a quartz watch. It was June 1968. The world's first commercial quartz wristwatch, the Seiko Astron, would only be introduced in December 1969.

Quotes:

Fisher: Why are you here?

Movie Connections:

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

Soundtrack:

Anji

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.