Review: Chappaquiddick

Dealing with Presidential hopeful Edward Kennedy (Jason Clarke) whose boozy antics end in a car accident with a young strategist named Mary Jo Kopechne (Kate Mara) in tow. The event has deadly consequences for one, and potential career-ending scandal for the other. Ed Helms plays Kennedy’s cousin Joe Gargan, who is also a lawyer called upon to get Teddy out of sticky situations, but forever being reminded that as a Gargan he’ll never be a ‘true’ Kennedy. Jim Gaffigan plays a principal party involved in the aftermath of the accident, Paul Markham. Clancy Brown plays the deadly serious Robert McNamara who heads the political/PR spin side of dealing with Teddy’s mess. Bruce Dern appears as Kennedy patriarch Joe, forever disappointed in Teddy, who competes in the shadow of his two more successful/liked dead brothers John and Bobby. Olivia Thirlby has a tiny role as an apparent amalgam of young strategists who worked on RFK’s campaign.

Despite featuring an Aussie in the lead and being about a member of the idolised Kennedy family, I hadn’t heard of this 2018 film from director John Curran (the not-bad “Stone”, writer of the even better “The Killer Inside Me”). It doesn’t appear to have been a huge hit with audiences or critics in the United States or here, and that’s a shame. It gives Clarke his best showing to date, features some good actors in support, and the subject matter is fascinating. It’s not a great film, but it’s a rock-solid one.

Edward ‘Ted’ Kennedy is an interesting character. Neither JFK nor RFK were saints, but no one really remembers them for their various scandals or flaws, at least not to the degree that it has tainted their legacies all that much. Teddy though, I don’t think has or ever will wipe off the stain of the events at Chappaquiddick in 1969. Sure, he went on to be a long-serving Senator, but he never did hit the heights of JFK, nor do I think he has ever been as popular/admired as RFK. The black sheep of the Kennedy Clan made a very bad mistake, and it cost a woman her life, and Teddy his Presidential aspirations. To some extent you can feel for the guy, as he could never live up to his brothers’ heights, especially in his hardened father Joe’s eyes, but once you do what Teddy did, it’s pretty difficult to sympathise with him. Look at his first reaction to the accident as depicted here: First he flees the scene and leaves the poor girl to fend for herself without trying to save her. Secondly he says to his Mr. Fix-it/cousin Joe Gargan (Ed Helms) ‘I’m not going to be President’. If this is all accurate, it says everything, really. Buddy, you’re not even half the men your brothers were. I don’t necessarily wish the worst on the guy, but at the very least I hope the years since this accident have haunted him. He deserves at least that much, he didn’t do one right thing in the entire situation. Not one. The sonofabitch should’ve served lengthy prison time, to be perfectly honest. The filmmakers do a good job of humanising Teddy without ever excusing his behaviour. He’s awful, alright. The disregard for human life and political ambition/self-preservation above everything else is disgraceful. Perhaps just as bad are the people rallying around Teddy to try to save his career/campaign. Also, can I just point out at this juncture that if Teddy had bothered to try – and succeed – to save the girl, she might’ve lived and the scandal would’ve been relatively minor and dealt with quicker? What a moron. One wonders if this was the first or last time someone had to get Teddy out of an embarrassing jam.

As I said earlier, Jason Clarke gets his best role here and doesn’t disappoint. He certainly has the right facial structure/jawline for a Kennedy (others seem to disagree, but a quick Google Images Search has me feeling good about my belief), and he’s the rock of this film. In addition to Clarke, we also get excellent turns from Clancy Brown as no-nonsense Robert McNamara (a former Secretary of Defence), and a straight Ed Helms in his best-ever turn as the aforementioned Gargan (who despite being involved in the cover-up, does earn some sympathy as the tangential Kennedy, who clearly is too loyal and wanting to belong to the family). There’s no weak link in the cast, but Bruce Dern gets very little to work with as the seriously infirmed but tough Joe Kennedy. Dern has zero problems playing a stony, mean sonofabitch, but given what little is required of him, anyone could’ve played the part. I also would’ve liked to see more of the underrated Olivia Thirlby, but her character is of very minor importance, whilst Kate Mara does OK in a glorified cameo at the beginning.

Pretty irresistible stuff and well-acted by everyone, especially Jason Clarke in the lead role who probably deserved an Oscar nomination. Scripted by the unusual duo of Taylor Allen (more prolific as an ‘animatic editor’ on many episodes of “The Simpsons”) and Andrew Logan (a short film producer with his debut screenwriting effort), it’s definitely worth seeing, especially for political junkies. I think this film deserved a bit more attention.

Rating: B-