Films based on true stories have been quite common in the last three decades, but more so have been political films based in fact. One can go back to "Three Days of the Condor", "All the President's Men", "JFK", "Jackie", the most recent "The Post", and now we "Chappaquiddick" to grace our screens.
The scandal and mysterious events surrounding the tragic drowning of a young woman, as Ted Kennedy drove his car off the infamous bridge, are revealed in this story with Jason Clarke as Ted Kennedy and Kate Mara as Mary Jo Kopechne. Not only did this event take the life of an aspiring political strategist and Kennedy insider, but it ultimately changed the course of presidential history forever. Even with family, cousin Joe Gargan (Ed Helms), Joan Kennedy (Andria Blackman) and political help from Paul Markham (Jim Gaffigan), they weren't enough to save Ted's present or future political situation.
Through true accounts documented in the inquest from the investigation in July of 1969, this film ultimately exposes the broad reach of political power, the influence of America's most celebrated family, and the vulnerability of Ted Kennedy, the youngest son, in the shadow of his family legacy.
Others to round out the cast are Olivia Thirlby as Rachel Schiff, Clancy Brown as Robert McNamara, Taylor Nichols as Ted Sorensen, Bruce Dern as Joe Kennedy and Sarah Elizabeth Mitchell as Senate Secretary.
This was intensely directed by John Curran ("Praise" '98, "We Don't Live Here Anymore" '04, "The Painted Veil" '06, "Stone" '10, "Tracks" '13) plus a short. Besides the staging an pacing, where this filmmaker exceled was in how he was able to get Clarke to emit the emotion of Kennedy as well as his movements. Even though Clarke is an accomplished actor, this was still talented directing. It was adequately written by Taylor Allen and Andrew Logan. Considering these writers have very little or no previous writing experience, this script was well told as it unfolded that infamous night in 1969. Sure, there was some jumping around in plot and, at times, it was difficult to differentiate where the flashback started or ended, but as the story got going, it certainly picked up the pace and was able to find this very important story. Truly these writers have an amazing amount of raw talent, and with this, I'm definitely curious to see what they can do with a future screenplay given the opportunity. Certainly another film is in their future. It's just a matter of time. Jason Clarke has proven himself in films time and again, however with this, his dialect was not quite as pronounced as I was expecting. It's not that I was expecting an over-the-top dialect--subtlety can be extremely accurate, but his dialect needed more emphasis. Maybe a different dialect coach could've been used. Ed Helms should do more drama, because this has got to be one of his better performances.
If you're a political junkie, you'll be in politics heaven, and even if you're not, this is still a great history lesson for those that never lived at this time. The direction and ensemble cast was riveting as it was accurate.
Out of 4 Stars: 3 Rated: PG-13 107mins.
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