Python Hyena Bobby (2006): Dir: Emilio Estevez / Cast: William H. Macy, Demi Moore, Christian Slater, Anthony Hopkins, Lindsay Lohan: Intriguing ensemble drama regarding the events occurring during the assassination of Senator Robert F. Kennedy in June of 1968. While the election is in full throttle a hotel prepares for the arrival of the Senator and the screenplay examines and explores various individuals involved. Emilio Estevez handles the difficult material evenly and is backed with a fantastic ensemble cast. William H. Macy plays the hotel manager in the midst of an affair. Christian Slater plays the head of kitchen staff who is fired for refusing a Mexican off time to vote. Demi Moore plays a drunken singer haunted with the reality of getting older. Anthony Hopkins plays a retired host who has seen it all during his long career but he sees the hotel as home. Lindsay Lohan is even given a great dramatic stretch as one of the hotel visitors. There is footage of Kennedy himself and his message of hope that was dispatched. However, this is not about Kennedy but about the people at the hotel during the event and how it effected them and seemingly brought them all together under one tragic moment. Despite their individual traumas the film stresses that it was the big picture around them that would haunted newspapers and embed our memories. Score: 10 / 10

SnoopyStyle It's June 4, 1968 at the Ambassador Hotel in L.A. Robert F. Kennedy is running for President. It's his campaign headquarters. The movie follows various characters in the hotel leading up to the momentous assassination. This is reminiscent of the classic 'Grand Hotel' which is mentioned in the movie. Written, directed and staring Emilio Estevez, this movie is following way too many characters and stories. None of them stand out and none of them has enough time anyways. There are a few compelling scenes but they're buried underneath a pile of other random scenes. The recreation of Bobby's walk through the kitchen is very effective. If only the rest of the movie has that kind of compelling tension. The cast is first rate although some of them can't leave their movie star quality behind to blend into the scenes.

Robert Thompson Let me just preface this by saying I have never written a review for a movie on IMDb, and now I'm writing one for a movie that is six years old. That is how much Bobby, the man and the film, affected me.The only reason I decided to watch Bobby is because I have been researching and writing a book about my grandfather Robert E. Thompson, a Washington newsman. He was good friends with both Jack and Bobby Kennedy. So much so that Jack Kennedy made Pops his press secretary in 1958 when he ran for reelection to the Senate - two years before he became President - and in 1962 my grandfather, who had watched Bobby Kennedy's career flourish since they met in 1956 and was enamored by the man, published the first biography about him entitled 'Robert F. Kennedy: The Brother Within'. A year later he also witnessed the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald.In writing my book I became overly familiar with the lives of not just both Kennedy's but the entire family and in many respects, in the process of so much scholarly research, I had stopped thinking about the emotional resonance of their message - especially Bobby's, the last hope. It's not something I realized until I watched this film. I wont get into the nonsensical elements of the plot except to say that what at first seemed unnecessary became forgotten in the emotional weight of the last 15 minutes.To watch the man campaign, watch the hope of America brighten after Vietnam, Civil Rights and MLK's murder and then to see it all come crashing down in one moment with the music tugging at the appropriate heart strings and the added knowledge that my grandfather had seen something in the man long before many others had was too much for me, I have never cried because of a movie but I can honestly say I was moved to tears. There is a book about him appropriately titled The Last Campaign. He really was our last hope, at least in that era. Instead of the hope for America we got angry little Tricky Dick Nixon, Republican cronyism and the haunting legacy of Watergate. Needless to say in this era of so-called leaders like Newt Gingrich it is important to keep the message alive that Kennedy and King and others were trying to spread, a message of love. Especially as we live through the fiftieth anniversary of Jack Kennedy's Presidency. And in its own way this film does just that, I only wish I had seen it six years ago. Absolutely powerful.

Mike B I have mixed feelings about this movie. A lot of the scenes have nothing to do with Senator Kennedy - so the word fill-in comes to mind. However these scenes are well-done and keep you interested - Demie Moore as a drunk was quite hilarious. Perhaps the movie should have been called 'Ambassador Hotel'. For more about Senator Kennedy see a documentary on PBS. Also as I was watching the movie I felt it would have been more interesting to have a movie on the day after, rather than prior to the assassination. It must have been very traumatic for all those in the hotel who showed up for work the next day. The scenes at the end of the movie are riveting and heart-breaking.