BOBBY written and directed by Emilio Estevez, with Anthony Hopkins and Helen Hunt. 112 minutes. An Alliance Atlantis release. Opens Friday (November 24). For venues and times, see Movies, page 113. Rating: NNN
Robert Kennedy once said, “Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.”
The quote sends Emilio Estevez into a fit of laughter, a familiar Billy the Kid cackle that fills the hotel room where we’re discussing Bobby, his big-screen homage to RFK.
“Brother, ain’t that the truth?” he says, shaking his head.
BOBBY (Emilio Estevez) Rating: NNN
This is a thoughtful and well-intentioned drama about the hours preceding presidential hopeful Robert Kennedy’s assassination that suffers under the weight of its own ambition.
Certainly, it’s more hagiographical than biographical Estevez, who also wrote the script, has no desire to bore us with Kennedy’s accomplishments. Instead, he wants to remind us how important RFK was to a highly polarized America in 1968 and stir us about his loss.
That he does so by weaving together the stories of the guests and employees at the hotel where Kennedy was shot is an inventive approach. But there are simply too many characters – 22 in all – from switchboard operators and campaign volunteers to a boozy lounge singer and her cuckolded husband (played by Demi Moore and ex-fianc Estevez). Most of their stories are painted in broad strokes, allowing few insights into their lives or Kennedy’s impact on them.
Because all these roles are filled by well-known actors, while Kennedy himself is seen in only a handful of news clips (the film’s most powerful moments), finding RFK among a screenful of famous faces is like a game of Where’s Waldo.
