With the current political situation being what it is, it is good for the American people to be reminded of inspiring moments in our nation's history. The assassination of presidential hopeful Robert F. Kennedy in the kitchen of the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles on June 5, 1968, thus proves a powerful event for adaptation into a powerful film.
Viewing the assassination through the eyes of guests, staff, local waitresses and political volunteers, "Bobby" is an emotional cry for peace and justice in America, a cry made possible by a cast packed with Hollywood's best: Anthony Hopkins, Harry Belafonte, Sharon Stone, William H. Macy, Demi Moore, Laurence Fishburne, Lindsay Lohan, Elijah Wood, Martin Sheen, Helen Hunt, Christian Slater and Emilio Estevez himself.
Showing himself to be more than the good-looking jock from "The Breakfast Club," writer-director Estevez succeeds in combining the stories of 22 fictional characters with newsreel footage and audio recordings of RFK during his promising presidential campaign. Each story supposedly represents some important concern of 1968, be it pop culture, racial and class tensions, drugs, alcohol or the war in Vietnam. Using a technique similar to the late Robert Altman, Estevez attempts to unify the various storylines with long, extended shots and floating cameras, hoping to pull the audience into one collective moment in time.
It doesn't really work.
The entire movie takes place at the Ambassador Hotel, the day that Kennedy wins California's Democratic primary. After his arrival late that night, Kennedy is shot while making his way out of the ballroom through the hotel's kitchen, a tragedy that we are meant to compare to the happenings we have witnessed through each narrative throughout the day. Almost every scene is supposed to be taken seriously, with the horrible climax coming in the film's final moments. Yet, we already know the outcome. The goal for Estevez, then, is to make us care about these secondary storylines, to engage us in a momentous day in our nation's history, even though we already know why.
Nevertheless, Estevez gets commendable performances out of his all-star cast. Hopkins portrays retired doorman John Casey, playing chess and getting old with his friend Nelson (Belafonte). William H. Macy (always brilliant) plays Paul Ebbers, the Ambassador's liberal manager. Married to beautician Miriam (powerfully portrayed by Stone), Ebbers fires his racist manager, Timmons (Slater), who soon gets his revenge by exposing Ebbers' affair with a hotel operator (Heather Graham).
There's also the story of fallen singing sensation Virginia Fallon (Moore), an alcoholic who abuses her husband Tim (Estevez). Moore gives a moving performance as a woman of her time. A similar comment on women's role in society is made with the role of socialite Samantha Stevens (played by Helen Hunt), a fashion worrier who finds never-ending support in her albeit depressed husband Jack. He is played wonderfully (as always) by Estevez's father, Martin Sheen.
The kitchen staff is largely Mexican-American, like the young José (Freddy Rodríguez), forced to work a double shift on the night his favorite baseball player, Dodgers' pitcher Don Drysdale, is going for a record. Fishburne plays the sensible chef Edward, passing on useful information to his fellow co-workers about how to elevate themselves in a racially prejudiced society.
Lohan plays the young heroine Diane, who chooses to ignore her father's wishes, by marrying her schoolmate William (Wood) to keep him out of Vietnam. In a small, amusing role, Russian actress Svetlana Metkina plays a stubborn Czech journalist who continually finds her interview request with RFK rejected by an aide (Joshua Jackson) on the grounds that she is a Communist.
My favorite comedic performances, however, are made by two volunteer Kennedy stompers played by Brian Geraghty and Shia LaBeouf, who let themselves get sidetracked into an LSD trip by hippie drug-dealer Fisher (Ashton Kutcher).
Nevertheless, the intention behind "Bobby" is serious. In an interview for Time magazine, Estevez described his first visit to the Ambassador Hotel; "I remember my father walking us through the lobby and the ballroom and listening to him explain that this is where it happened, this is the place where the music died."
"Bobby" is an attempt-a bold and commendable one at that-to capture what it must have been like to have lived through some of the 60s most captivating events. Kennedy's own voice, ringing out with an inspirational vision for America, ends the film on an emotional, if unfilled, high-leaving you with a vision of the film that Estevez hoped to make, and the one that you wished you had just seen.