Bobby

Bobby deals with the day leading up to the assassination of Robert Kennedy in the US, and loosely with the politics surrounding the event. I say 'loosely' because that really was the problem with Bobby - the whole thing was too loose.

I have a weak spot for this period of American history - the Vietnam war, the political climate in the US, the whole bit. In addition, the cast roll call was outstanding, leading me to believe that I was potentially going to watch an outstanding movie. I had faith in Emilio Estevez to make something great! But as one of my friends said 'that's what you get when you let a brat packer be in charge of a movie'. So true.

The structure itself had potential, it looked at the lives of a number of characters in the Ambassador Hotel, a lot making comment on several notable aspects of the time period. Whilst there were lots of admirable characters and I didn't feel smacked in the face with the lack of subtlety, they just weren't developed properly - I didn't care what happened to any of them. Additionally, there were two glaringly obvious stereotypes in the form of the characters of retired doorman played by Anthony Hopkins, and a spaced out hippie played by Ashton Kutcher.

The movie looked good, but failed to get me in. It began very slowly and stayed slow until a good 3/4 of the way through. It picked up pace and there was a portion of the film that was genuinely very moving, but unfortunately even that tapered off towards the end. The end that encompassed the inevitable flash of the American flag in the last frame.

I was entertained enough for a few hours (another point, it was too long) but in retrospect, the aspects of this film that kept me in were the archival footage, and the political/historical angle, none of which the film makers can take credit for. Anyone as enamoured with this period of history as I, go see it. But if you're not, this film just doesn't cut it, considering the credentials behind it.

7 out of 10.