Chappaquiddick is the surprisingly hard-to-spell name of the new film about Ted Kennedy and that time he ran off a bridge and managed to not save the girl in the car with him. And then didn’t report it to the cops for a full day. And how his political team and crazy dad all tried to figure out how to PR his way out of legal charges and saving his political career.
This film does a credible job of suggesting that, perhaps, Ted Kennedy was kind of a shit heel. And then it seems to try to redeem him a little bit… or maybe it doesn’t. It’s hard to figure out what the movie is trying to tell us and I think that’s the point. It’s not taking sides… because even the most ardent Ted Kennedy defender would probably admit he should have called the cops sooner. But the movie also shows the stock “smoke-filled room” with political operates debating how to get Kennedy out of this mess. And, weirdly, the movie kind of becomes a dark comedy… or at least I laughed… but not sure if I was meant to.
Anyway, the cast is good though some of those crazy Kennedy/Massachusetts accents come and go. Jason Clarke plays Kennedy and he seemed like a credible younger pick for my memory of Kennedy in his more corpulent old age version of himself in the senate. Ed Helms, Kate Mara, Clancy Brown, Jim Gaffigan, and a surprise Bruce Dern all show up and do a fair to good job.
Nothing about this movie is amazing… it’s more informative and interesting. It’s very workman-like as a drama. It never goes for amazing shots, amazing writing, or amazing anything. It tells a story that’s ultimately about what the privileged rich with the name Kennedy can get away with… and if you liked Ted Kennedy in the senate for the decades he served after this incident, then maybe that privilege worked out. Except for the dead girl who may have survived 45 minutes in the bar before running out of oxygen.
Score: 75