The Kennedys (2011)
The story of the most fabled political family in American history, told in a manner similar to The Godfather: a manipulative, egocentric father determined to live out his own ambitions through his sons, who in turn spent their lives dancing to his tune while at the same time trying to stand on their own. This is history through personality - the tangled relationships through which paint a picture of one of the most turbulent periods of the modern age. Viewers will be upstairs at the White House, not in the Cabinet Room. Through iconic events in history - the Bay of Pigs, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the civil rights struggle, the mob connection - viewers will learn about the lesser known, yet critical personal stories.
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The greatest movie ever made..!
Don't listen to the negative reviews
Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%
It is both painfully honest and laugh-out-loud funny at the same time.
"The Kennedys" was a huge disappointment for me. The script is cartoon-ish and would have worked better with animation rather than established film actors. The accents of the actors were even worse: inconsistent and nothing at all like native Bostonians. Perhaps the jarring fact that "Ethel" is better looking than "Jackie" didn't help, either. I actually met Mrs. Onassis, a few years before her death, and she was still a knockout even then. Katie Holmes was a very poor choice for the role, a Plain Jane trying to pull off an iconic beauty. Greg Kinnear isn't bad as "Jack" but he's way too short. Seeing Holmes looming over him brought back bad memories of another mismatched married couple, namely the "TomKats". Watch this overlong work at your own peril. Giggle at all the right gaffes and you might just like it a little bit more than I did.
Well, I've watched this DVD several times. Being somewhat a student of JFK/RFK I find this movie to lack greatly in the very deep and much noticed involvement of Kenneth O'Donnell. He was very much the backbone of the JFK administration. This movie makes it seem like he wasn't a major part of their work. Which, indeed, he was. Also, I think that, thought hey explored a great deal of the dark side, they sure left out just how much evil the entire Kennedy clan was doing doing. Leaving out Teddy was bad enough, but leaving out the misdeeds of Jackie was making Jack look more of a jerk than he was. Jackie was surely no saint. RFK surely was truly a ruthless man. Helen O'Donnells' book, as with others. makes it seems as though as was rosy with their dealings. As if they were just doing what everyone else was doing in throwing elections. In fact, I believe that the Kennedy election, as Obama's, was a great shame.
I have always been fascinated with the Kennedy family & over the years have read & seen so much about them. This series was wonderful - very entertaining & extremely well written. A lot has been said about the acting & I too was watching with a critical eye. I have to say the acting was excellent! I found myself totally engrossed in watching the story line which of course I know so well. I was captivated by how each & every actor was able to portray such a likeness to their real life character. This was indeed enhanced by the stupendous job by the make-up & costume department! Katie Holmes in particular had an extremely difficult role to play, but what an amazing job she did! I truly enjoyed this fabulous series!
Wow!!!! A great mini-series! Well written, well directed, and well acted by all the actors in the film. Katie Holmes is wonderful as Jackie, in fact, she and all the other actors were totally believable. My husband and I enjoyed this series from beginning to end, and bought the DVD, because it's definitely a keeper, and we'll enjoy watching it for years to come. Jackie's husband, portrayed by actor Greg Kinnear, was perfect in the role as President John F. Kennedy, in fact, I thought I was looking at him, and it brought a tear to my eye. I recommend this DVD movie min-series to anyone, whether you were a fan of the Kennedy's or not. I learned things about the family I never knew before. This film does not only represent history, it represents family life in the White House, as never before depicted. Truly a dramatic film chalked up with love, loyalty, scandal, and sadness. A refreshing film to watch in today's loss of family values and traditions.