In his first feature for over a decade, writer/director Emilio Estevez tackles a huge subject and with it, huge expectation. Using one of recent history’s sourest notes as a catalyst, he explores modern America through a string of heart-felt storylines and over twenty lead characters. Five years after the assassination of his brother, Senator Robert Kennedy was on the campaign trail. It’s June 4, 1968 and The Ambassador Hotel is preparing for his arrival. While the night may be one they’ll never forget, the day was much like any other for hotel guests and employees: adultery, alcohol and acid, retirees, racism and recreation. Through this microcosm, Estevez takes a snap-shot of changing times in a watershed year, and uses it to reflect on the present from the past.

There’s a hint of Robert Altman in his aim, though comparison to Irwin Allen is often more appropriate. Certainly the period and hotel setting doesn’t help, nor the all-star mega-cast that includes a distracting who’s-who of family and friends. Yet despite uneven results some threads prove satisfying, notably the manager’s adulterous affair and the relationship between kitchen staff, their racist manager and the black head-chef. Estevez reaches his climax with some skill, plunging headfirst into misery and chaos following the shooting. Nonetheless Bobby feels like it was written for a TV special and lacks the dramatic grit or tonal subtlety required of a subject this hefty. All too often we’re hit over the head by Big Ideas as his characters run amok. There are glimpses of the film Estevez aspired to make, but mostly this is simply the assassination sequel to Hotel.

// COLIN FRASER