BRIDGE TOO FAR FOR KENNEDY

IT’S doubtful that many Americans under the age of 40 or so even know what the name Chappaquiddick refers to, which might in itself provide solid justification for making a film about it.

But the drama of the tragic July 18, 1969 accident in which Senator Ted Kennedy drove a car off a little bridge on the eponymous little Massachusetts island and left 28-year-old political staffer Mary Jo Kopechne to drown needed more energetic and incisive treatment than it receives in this somewhat slack telling.

As it is, the film’s main justification is star Jason

Clarke’s quite plausible physical resemblance to the career Television icon Oprah Winfrey helped film director Ava DuVernay meet U2 frontman Bono. Oprah posted a video of the get-together, and said that her director is one of the Irish rockstar’s number one fans.

“My dear friend Ava loves Bono… So… I surprised her... With tickets to concert and meet-and-greet afterwards in Nashville! Sweet moment,” Oprah captioned the video, reports aceshowbiz.com. – IANS politician whose presidential possibilities were arguably quashed by the incident.

The film’s big-screen commercial potential seems questionable, although it could achieve some mileage on home viewing. Telling this story today, with the Kennedy family’s Sir Anthony Hopkins doesn’t want to “waste his time” on his estranged daughter. The 80-year-old actor hasn’t spoken to his daughter Abigail Hopkins, 50 – who he has with his ex-wife, actress Petronella Barker – for two decades, but has said he doesn’t want to spend any more time thinking about her because he’s accepted that their relationship is over and she doesn’t want anything to do with him. – Bang Showbiz place in Massachusetts, the family’s home state, royal power obviously played a role.

The funniest line in the film comes when crafty old patriarch Joe Kennedy, virtually incapable of speaking at this point, is asked for his advice over the phone and manages to croak out, “Alibi!”

It’s impossible to watch this film without imagining how such an incident would be covered today; very likely the young woman would not have died had there been cellphones, as she was apparently still alive in the submerged car for at least two hours, maybe three or four.

But even more astounding was Ted Kennedy’s not reporting the incident for 10 hours, then the fact that a story that otherwise would have provided endless headlines became an afterthought when the first moon landing took place two days later.

First-time screenwriters

Taylor Allen and Andrew Logan have done their homework in organising the material, but passion and vitality are crucially missing from director John Curran’s treatment. – The Hollywood Reporter