lavatch In the bonus track of the DVD of "Chappaquiddick," the film artists made the case for their film as a sincere recreation of the events on and following July 18, 1969, when Mary Jo Kopechne drowned in a vehicle driven by Senator Edward M. Kennedy. Unfortunately, the result of the film was a piece of fluff that felt more like the imaginative words of screenwriters than reality.There is no doubt that Sen. Kennedy should have been liable for manslaughter, given that he failed to call for first responders and did not even report the incident that he knew had taken the life of Miss Kopechne. There was even a house within walking distance of the bridge where Kennedy could have phoned for help. Instead, he did nothing, and that is the essence of the story of the tragedy at Poucha Pount.But this film goes well beyond what is known about the case to spin a character portrayal of a morose, self-destructive Kennedy that almost willed the tragedy at the bridge to fulfill his avoidance of having to run for president and continue the Kennedy legacy. The mood of Kennedy was gloomy and despondent throughout the film, as articulated in a line that Kennedy has "been on this path since Bobby died." But the self-loathing path was never convincing.Given the limited amount of factual information we have about the hours leading up to and following the accident, the filmmakers could have reigned in the tremendous license taken with hypothetical conversations. The banter at the party for the "boiler girls" seemed artificial and far too subdued. This was supposed to be a celebration, not a wake. Likewise, the dialogue between Kennedy and his two sidekicks, Gargan and Markham, was difficult to believe. The research team could have especially probed deeper into the testimony of Gargan. Yet another flaw in the film was the portrayal of the powerful Kennedy loyalists who served as the "fixers" in the case to ensure that Kennedy would get off with the most lenient sentence. Once again, the filmmakers twisted characters like Robert McNamara and Ted Sorensen into clichés that often lapsed into comedy. When the Chappaddick affair is likened to the Bay of Pigs incident, the film lost all of its momentum.Another glaring oversimplification was to assert that Chappaquiddick doomed Ted Kennedy's candidacy for president. This is inaccurate. It was not until a Roger Mudd interview conducted on CBS with Senator Ted Kennedy on November 4, 1979, that Kennedy's poor performance on national television made it clear that he would never unseat Jimmy Carter as the Democratic Party nominee that year. For the balance of his career, Kennedy settled on being the "Lion of the Senate," perhaps achieving more in practice than the short-lived political careers of his elder brothers.The most successful part of this substandard historical film was the dignity given to Miss Kopechne, who was a dedicated Kennedy loyalist with a bright future. As depicted in the film, the loss of this young woman was as painful as it was unnecessary.

pietclausen This film disappoints. I remember the event quite well and most of the true happenings were covered up and this movie does nothing to add to the truth.We will never know the complete truth, but money talks and happened in the cover up, but this was not even included in this film. It appears that even 50 odd years later, it is still impossible to get the whole truth, so the Kennedy power still reigns.A sad day. I feel this movie should not have been released as the speculation will continue, yet a person lost her life and the culprit got away with it.

Tony If you read Senatorial Privilege you'll get a much fuller and damning indictment of how this story unfolded. This film pays passing interest in to how the autopsy, driving license and grand jury indictment were scuppered or covered up. It's a good film, but seems more interested in personalities than covering the real events afterwards. Just before this I'd watched a docu / film about Pattie Hearst, lets be honest there really is one law for some and another for the rest.

adonis98-743-186503 Depicting Ted Kennedy's involvement in the fatal 1969 car accident that claims the life of a young campaign strategist, Mary Jo Kopechne. As much as i might love Jason Clarke as an actor this film really did not do it for me. First of all the man is wearing fake teeth for the entire movie and it's so obvious to the point where he looks more like Bugs Bunny rather than Ted Kennedy. Ed Helms was suprisingly serious good for him i guess and Bruce Dern's role was very disappointing. Kate Mara is also in the film but her role was pretty forgettable and the pacing of the film is very slow and moody definitely not a film that i would recommend for a large portion of viewers except those who might find slow dramas like this compelling and interesting as a whole. (4/10)