Buh-Bye Bobby

*1/2
I was so excited to see Bobby when I first heard of it. Then my interest waned - and then I saw it anyway in Minneapolis over Christmas. Ugh! TEDIOUS! Unlike United 93, which also has a historical tragedy as its centerpiece, Bobby builds zero momentum - it was more like "bring on the assassination scene, that should be great." In fact, I cared less about some characters as it progressed. Clearly, Emilio Esteves, who wrote and directed this ambitious pet-project, was trying to channel the master tapestry storyteller, Robert Altman. And its a creative and very interesting angle: tell fictional backstories of real and fictional individuals who were at the Ambassador Hotel the night Kennedy was shot. The problem is Esteves makes too few characters compelling enough. We see two campaign workers ditch their assignment to get high. Ooo! We see a retired doorman and his buddy reminisce (aww :) about - I don't even remember (yawn...). We see racial strife happening right before our eyes! in the kitchen between buspersons, cooks, waiters. Big deal. We know zero about these people or where they want to go. Well no, wait, we are told that the Freddy Rodriguez busperson character wants to go to the LA Dodgers game. Fine. But come on, doesn't Laurence Fishburne's cook character overreact just a little bit when Rodriguez gives him the tickets due to his double-shift conflict - you'd think he was giving him a kidney. This sets up, or more accurately, this was inserted to setup a portent for later. A few characters gain my sympathy toward the end: Lindsay Lohan is very believable playing a compassionate young adult who agrees to marry an acquaintance to prevent him from going to Vietnam. Even Helen Hunt, NOT my fav (and reliably Helen-Hunt-annoying in her first scene trying on shoes), reveals layers of her character with husband Martin Sheen that left me wondering what may have happened to her later in life. Sharon Stone was effective as the hairdresser who listens to Demi Moore (who's Acting with a capital A) and Lohan at different times in her salon. I wanted more of Stone's scene with her husband, played by William H Macy, as they confront his infidelities with the Heather Graham character. Actually, throughout the movie, Estevez employs some very odd editing choices - I was either wondering "what the hell is going on with this person" like I walked into a nearly finished scene, or just "huh?" as a scene is stopped at a point when something interesting was about to happen and instead cut to...jeez, the doorman story. At least the obtrusive music cued whatever emotion I was supposed to feel. The last half hour of the movie became compelling as I wondered how the assassination would impact some of the characters - but more out of curiosity since I was sitting there watching the thing than anything else. Besides that interesting last portion, this film is an overly-ambitious and poorly executed flop. Why it is up for Best Drama at the Golden Globes instead of United 93 is beyond me. Oh wait, this is the Golden Globes, that's why.