Sunday, July 6, 2025

Chappaquiddick (2017)

A truly moving story that was released and quickly forgotten in 2017, John Curran directs an expert cast in a screenplay that isn't out to "get" anyone, although if you're a Democrat, you might feel different.

Senator Ted Kennedy (Jason Clarke), months after the assassination of his brother Bobby and during the first Moon landing, is having a party on Martha's Vineyard for half a dozen female campaign workers and half a dozen married men (without their wives) in attendance. Among the women is Mary Jo Kopechne (Kate Mara), who seems lost on what to do next after RFK's death. Kennedy and Kopechne leave together, and Kennedy drives off a bridge, submerging the car in shallow water. He manages to swim out, but Kopechne drowns. He walks back to the party cabin, gets two of his yes men to help- Paul Markham (Jim Gaffigan) and cousin Joe Gargan (Ed Helms)- but no one can get the car doors open. Kennedy leaves for his hotel and doesn't report the accident for hours. The family and Kennedy supporters circle the wagons around the "cursed" politician, coming up with lies about the death while playing on the heartstrings of a gullible public.

Curran's direction is fantastic. Clarke doesn't play up Kennedy's caricaturish Massachusetts roots like other Kennedy portrayals of the past. The script refuses to speculate on what happened, not adding any dramatic flights of fancy or rumormongering. They show a sympathetic press still trying to do their job, lobbing tough questions about the accident and getting no response (unlike today where the Liberal press lobs softball questions at like-minded politicians, and gaslight the public).

The casting of comedians Gaffigan and Helms in dramatic roles beats the viewer's expectations. The film never becomes darkly comic because what happened to Mary Jo Kopechne was not funny. Kennedy's wearing of a neck brace to her funeral is cringe and stupid, not sympathetic. At one point, Joe tells Kennedy that he is NOT the victim here, something a lot of people (especially Kennedy's voters) seemed to have forgot after sending him back to the senate again and again. We never learn too much about Kopechne, played by a good Kate Mara, which also seems calculated since we still don't know her today. The same one photograph of her is dragged out again and again, including in the film, but she's always been a blank since the focus and sympathy fell on Kennedy. Dern also scores as a stroke-ridden and equally unsympathetic Joseph Kennedy, and Clancy Brown is great as the abhorrent Robert McNamara.

If you don't believe this story could happen today, I challenge you to review the way the Liberal press has treated Joe Biden and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Anything said against Biden was shouted down, and when a couple of legacy media reporters challenged the narrative after Biden left office, they were also insulted and ostracized. RFK Jr. dared to speak out against his Democratic Party, who all circled the wagons again, protecting the party over family- which is ironic since a theme throughout the film is that family is everything no matter what specific members do.

This was never going to get any gold in Hollywood award circles, and didn't. Many Liberal critics dismissed it outright, if they bothered seeing it altogether, so as not to rock the boat and continue to get those free screening passes, internet clout, and access to celebrities. They fell for the ego stroke as much as Kennedy fell for it over half a century ago.

Stats:
(2017) 106 min. (9/10)
-Directed by John Curran
-Written by Taylor Allen & Andrew Logan
-Cast: Jason Clarke, Kate Mara, Ed Helms, Bruce Dern, Jim Gaffigan, Olivia Thirlby, Clancy Brown, Taylor Nichols, John Fiore, Gillian Mariner Gordon, Katie Henoch, Lexie Roth, Angela Hope Smith
-(PG-13)- Physical violence, profanity, adult situations, strong alcohol and tobacco use
-Media Viewed: Amazon Prime Video Streaming

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