Bobby

Posted by Brian C. Gibson (brian@filmschoolrejects.com) on April 11, 2007

It has been said that one should never judge a book by its cover. With films, the same could be said for its title or trailer. For the particular film Bobby, the title is as far from the experience as can be.

On June 6th, 1968 tragedy struck the Ambassador Hotel when U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy was shot and killed. The film centers around 22 individuals who were at the hotel on this historic day. He saw wrong and tried to right it. He saw suffering and tried to heal it. He saw war and tried to stop it.

Lately, films with ensemble casts and multiple plot structures have been compared to last year’s Oscar winner Crash. While I found this film to be entertaining, I also found it to be confusing. The film is not confusing in the sense that I stepped into a plot hole and couldn’t get out, but confusing in the sense that the film did not explore the target of its own title. I expected to find a jumble of random characters with intertwining plots,but I also expected the film to be about Bobby. Where a film such as Crash succeeded was in the fact that the multiple plots served as catalysts propelling the audience towards a climactic and morally fueled ending, otherwise known as a point. The 22 characters involved in Bobby seemed to have some bearing on theme. However, the film reached an obvious end without anything to say.

It would be one thing to title the film The Ambassador, and have it center around 22 individuals and their stay at the hotel on that fateful day. The film has more to do with the hotel and its guests, and less to do with the life and impact of Senator Robert F. Kennedy. While some of the characters involved have a varying degree of relevance with Bobby, most were simply just guests at the hotel who were witness to the shooting. The stories within the plot were entertaining and heartfelt, but seemed irrelevant.

Most of these problems, I would attribute to a fresh director. Emilio Estevez seems to have called in all of his Hollywood favors. Boasting a youthful and star-studded cast, Bobby just screams success. The film is a success on some levels, showing the industry what certain young talent is capable of when given a serious and well written role. The writing is superb, especially considering Estevez’s previous body of work. Not Saying that Men at Work was bad, but anything written after a script about two garbage men who become crime solving sleuths is sure to be an improvement.

In the end though, I still can not get past the lack of direction. Estevez did a fair job, but failed to make a point. At its core, the film is an entertaining look at the random alignment of 22 individuals who’s stay at a hotel intersected the death of Robert F. Kennedy. What this film was not though, was a film about the life and times of a great man who never had an opportunity to realize his full potential.

Read more articles by Brian C. Gibson