It's not difficult to see "Bobby," an ensemble piece set in the Ambassador Hotel circa 1968, as a case study in false advertising. A soggy ode to a politician that director Emilio Estevez clearly regards as the second coming, the movie is more a series of fluffy skits starring half of Hollywood. The cast doesn't disappoint (could it with these actors?), but putting them into a soap opera drama of 20 sub-plots involving the people in the room when RFK was shot makes the film so top-heavy it crashes.
A more appropriate title than "Bobby" would have been "Boring Hotel," or even, "This Is 1968 and I'm Going to Let You Know As Many Times As Possible." The parade of actors hollowly play the cardboard stock characters who live in the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. To make the film period specific, Estevez reaches beyond costumes and makes as many references to the '60s as possible. The A-list parade starts with the angry Mexican in the kitchen (Jacob Vargas) arguing with the cool-headed black chef (Lawrence Fishburne) about civil rights.
Next up is Lindsay Lohan marrying Elijah Wood so he doesn't have to go to Vietnam, followed by campaign worker Nick Cannon yelling about police blockades in Watts. There's the two volunteers who meet up with hippie Ashton Kutcher to "get closer to God" on acid. Among the best performances are William H. Macy as the politically correct yet adulterous hotel manager, and his patient, restrained wife (Sharon Stone) as the once-beautiful beautician. The only movie alluded to is "The Graduate." As the story drags on, it's difficult to tell if the references are the background or the plot.
It should be noted that at no point is Bobby Kennedy in the film. Indeed, the only time the senator is actually seen is in interrupting period news pieces of him talking about inequality, violence, an unjust war or whatever else Emilio Estevez decides to show him doing. Only at the end of the movie, where RFK arrives at the hotel for his election night event, is he seen in a vague over-the-shoulder shot. This is followed by other awkward camerawork designed to show him without showing his face. At one point, the camera literally cuts from an over-the-shoulder shot of RFK speaking to the crowd to a clip of the real RFK's face. It's difficult to understand the purpose of this, considering the implications of naming the movie after an unseen main character.
"Bobby" is not a biographical piece, nor is it a commentary on contemporary or past events. It's nothing more than an extended episode of a period soap opera, where hidden romances and burning conflicts sizzle between one-dimensional characters in a beautiful hotel. If Robert F. Kennedy was such a hero, he certainly deserves a better movie.
