The Ambassador Tapestry
June 1968 and The Ambassador is a hive of activity. Former members of staff are milling around to see old friends and play chess in the lobby, a diva's husband is dealing with her demanding ways, the staff in the kitchen are being forced to work double shifts. Elsewhere a young girl is marrying a boy who is due to go off to war whilst the hotel manager is having an affair with a girl in the phone room. All of this is going on whilst some helpers in the electoral race are busy canvassing for final votes whilst some are getting high on drugs.
I could probably go on trying to detail the various little storylines which are drawn together in "Bobby" but to be honest I don't see the point. I also struggle to see the point of "Bobby" despite being a fan of Emilio Estevez. I guess what "Bobby", the various people we meet and the various storylines are meant to represent is a snapshot of society as a whole at the time. You have love rats, managers trying to force their way up, young men doing drugs whilst others dealing with going to war. Basically it feels like every scenario is being covered right down to racism and growing old. The trouble is that it isn't in the least bit entertaining or in truth interesting.
The annoying thing is that Estevez who also wrote "Bobby" has done a great job of directing it. His focus on each storyline, the look he has created and the over all sense of style is spot on. And what is great is that he doesn't try and imitate Scorsese which could quite easily have happened with this story being set in the 60s. He also has pulled in a cast so big and familiar that you have to be impressed by how many well known faces appear. Okay so "Bobby" becomes a bit of a spot the star movie but even so they all play there parts well right down Lindsay Lohan and Mary Elizabeth Winstead in smaller roles.
What this all boils down to is that a piece of movie making I am impressed by "Bobby" and impressed by all the stars and what they contributed to it. But for me the tapestry of storylines don't draw me in and so frankly there are times when this feels like a movie which hits 3 hours instead of only 2.
