Children of the '70s, '80s and '90s probably won't have a grasp on the magnitude of Bobby Kennedy's murder at the Ambassador Hotel in 1968, but there are people still alive who were there that day and remember the ramifications. Emilio Estevez plans on bringing the time and feeling to movie audiences in "Bobby."
Bobby was John F. Kennedy's brother and was poised to become president in 1968. However, "Bobby" doesn't really tackle the actual story of the would-be president. No, it focuses on the story of those at the hotel when it happened. The cast is massive, an ensemble of 20 that are basically who's who in Hollywood, and the movie's namesake is relegated to newsreels, speech voiceovers and a faceless actor.
However, Estevez does a commendable job with the story that he concocted.
The Ambassador Hotel is filled with people -- guests and employees -- and both social classes get the same amount of time onscreen.
Former doormen John and Nelson (Harry Belafonte and Anthony Hopkins) sit in the lobby playing chess all day. In the kitchen, Jose (Freddy Rodriquez)has tickets to the Dodger's game but needs to work and chef Edward (Laurence Fishburne) sucks up to the boss and gets the night off.
Higher up in the hotel heirarchy is Paul (William H. Macy), the hotel's manager, who's sleeping with phone operator Angela (Heather Graham); his wife Miriam (Sharon Stone) works in the hotel's beauty parlor. Paul also has to deal with the racist beverage manager Timmons (Christian Slater) who refuses to post notices stating all kitchen employees get time off to vote.
The drunken hotel singer Vivian Fallon (Demi Moore) stays in her hotel room sleeping, only to wake up to down more drinks, play with her dog and torture her husband Tim (Estevez) and Miriam, who does her hair.
As for the guests, there's Jack and Samantha (Martin Sheen and Helen Hunt) who's problems only involve not having packed black shoes and a bit of depression. Diane and William (Lindsay Lohan and Elijah Wood) are getting married in the hotel chapel in order to save William from heading off to the Vietnam War.
The hotel acts as Bobby's campaign headquarters. Wade and Dwayne (Joshua Jackson and Nick Cannon) control all the campaign volunteers, sending them off to doorknock and pass out flyers. Two rogue participants, Jimmy and Cooper (Brian Geraghty and Shia LaBeouf), drop acid with Fischer(Ashton Kutcher) in a hotel room in order to avoid another day on a bus with a bunch of other college students.
The entire day culminates with Bobby winning the California primary only to be shot down by Sirhan Sirhan (David Kobzantsev).
"Bobby" only focuses on snippets of these peoples' lives. If Estevez had only cut out a few people, the movie could have been more focused. Roles like Hopkins and Belafonte's seem to be written into the story for no other reason besides the fact that they wanted to be in the movie.
For a film that is thought to be about a man that could have been president, a man that could have made some major changes in the nation, Bobby Kennedy really wasn't the point of the movie. His inspiring words soared over certain scenes, but it's hard to pay attention to every single sentence when the onscreen action is so captivating.
"Bobby" also gives off a sense of unfulfillment. The action stops after Bobby gets shot. He's rushed to an ambulance and some of the lead characters are on the Ambassador kitchen floor after also being shot, but nothing happens afterwards. We don't know how these people felt afterwards. The audience gets a white text on black screen explanation that Bobby died and while everyone else shot survived.
Estevez's story is good, his movie is good, but there's nothing absolutely amazing about it. Maybe it takes being part of that time to really get a sense of what happened. The title is misleading. There are people who hear "Bobby" and think that it's going to be an account of his campaign, his success. But this is about the people at a certain place and the hours leading up to a certain time. Only a select few actually have anything to do with Bobby. Their stories are interesting, but more from them was needed.
Originally from Des Plaines, Ill., Heather moved to Milwaukee to earn a B.A. in journalism from Marquette University. With a tongue-twisting last name like Leszczewicz, it's best to go into a career where people don't need to say your name often.
However, she's still sticking to some of her Illinoisan ways (she won't reform when it comes to things like pop, water fountain or ATM), though she's grown to enjoy her time in the Brew City.
Although her journalism career is still budding, Heather has had the chance for some once-in-a-lifetime interviews with celebrities like actor Vince Vaughn and actress Charlize Theron, director Cameron Crowe and singers Ben Kweller and Isaac Hanson of '90s brother boy band Hanson.
Heather's a self-proclaimed workaholic but loves her entertainment. She's a real television and movie fanatic, book nerd, music junkie, coffee addict and pop culture aficionado.
