BOBBY — ** — William H. Macy, Freddy Rodriguez, Shia LaBeouf; rated R (profanity, drugs, violence, brief gore, racial epithets, vulgarity, brief nudity, brief sex); Carmike 12 and Ritz 15 Theaters; Cinemark 24 at Jordan Landing; Century Theatres 16 (Sandy); Century Theatres 16 (South Salt Lake); Megaplex 17 at Jordan Commons; Megaplex 20 at the District; Regency Trolley Square Mall Theaters.
Most of the dialogue exchanges between the various characters in "Bobby" turn into diatribes. In fact, there's not much subtlety to be found in this fictionalized historical drama.
Worse, there's not much interesting going on, either.
The film is supposed to be a series of vignettes about the guests and staff of the Ambassador Hotel, just hours before presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated in the hotel kitchen. But the most watchable moments come when we get to see actual footage of Kennedy (newsreel and interview snippets) prior to the shooting.
"Bobby" shows events from the perspective of the Ambassador's harried general manager (William H. Macy), who's trying to make sure his staff has the hotel ready for the senator's visit that night, as well as others who are in the hotel, including:
Two young Kennedy campaign workers (Shia LaBeouf and Brian Geraghty) looking to score some recreational drugs.
A young couple (Lindsay Lohan and Elijah Wood) getting married for reasons other than love.
A wealthy married couple (Martin Sheen and Helen Hunt) trying to sort out some differences.
A squabbling show business couple (Emilio Estevez, who wrote and directed the film, and Demi Moore) charged with providing the evening's entertainment.
And the one really promising story thread here, which involves various members of the kitchen staff — with Christian Slater as the racist manager, Laurence Fishburne as a chef and Freddy Rodriguez as a bus boy — is never satisfactorily resolved.
Misguided attempts at comic relief, instead of lightening the pervasively heavy mood, steer things toward disaster — as when Ashton Kutcher shows up as a drug dealer.
On the other hand, although they are given little to do, it's nice to see veterans Anthony Hopkins and Harry Belafonte onscreen together.
"Bobby" is rated R for strong sexual language (profanity and vulgar slang terms), strong drug content (marijuana references and LSD use), violence (shootings and some fisticuffs), brief gore, use of racial epithets, brief male nudity and some brief sexual contact. Running time: 111 minutes.
E-mail: jeff@desnews.com