Unfolding within a single day at the iconic Ambassador Hotel in 1968 Los Angeles, Bobby is a fictionalized account of the events leading up to presidential hopeful Robert F. Kennedy's assassination. The movie is helmed by Emilio Estevez and boasts a lengthy marquee of Oscar-honored players and tabloid commodities alike. Unfortunately, this star spectacle - and the lack of consistency among the 20-plus performances - tends to eclipse the grave and complex issues at the heart of the film.
The opening scenes of Bobby play like a stroll through a celebrity funhouse with a side of American '60s 101. Look, there's Sir Anthony Hopkins orating the history of the storied Ambassador hotel! Down the hall, it's Ashton Kutcher as a caricatured hippie, dropping acid and facilitating divine encounters for a couple of delinquent teens. Ooh, here's Sharon Stone and Demi Moore commiserating on youth's cruel departure. and don't forget a draft-dodging Elijah Wood, Heather Graham embracing sexual liberation, and Laurence Fishburne's sermon on the true path to civil equality. Kennedy himself is shown only via actual television footage from the '60s; these images are the most arresting and haunting, as his optimism seems to silence all the others' petty grievances.
In attempting an ensemble epic that tackles race relations, gender relations, the wartime social atmosphere, a controversial presidential campaign and the myriad victories and failings of interpersonal relationships, Estevez has bitten off more than he can chew. The film is not orchestrated as elegantly as Crash or Babel, but perhaps it isn't meant to be. Yet despite some trite dialogue and messy editing, a vein of earnest purpose pulses through the film; it is clear that Estevez and his cast take their subject seriously and want to parallel this slice of an era to the contemporary American state.
For many, Bobby Kennedy's campaign represented a last hope for the resuscitation of American values. In a particularly resonant clip, he says that "I do not run for the presidency merely to oppose any man but to propose new policies. I run because I am convinced that this country is on a perilous course and because I have such strong feelings about what must be done, and I feel that I'm obliged to do all I can"
