Roqoo Depot

Movie Review: ‘Chappaquiddick’

First off, Chappaquiddick isn’t for everyone. This is a political drama about Ted Kennedy’s automotive accident on Chappaquiddick Island that lead to the death of Mary Jo Kopechne. It’s a story that’s complicated in large part to the way the incident was handled. The movie does a good job of covering the incident, the key players, and providing a rather level headed account of what did and might have happened. In the end, it doesn’t answer all of the questions, but on the other hand, that’s kind of the point. It provides you with enough information to get you wondering about what happened and how it was handled. Was Ted in the right or the wrong?

Now I’m not real big on political movies, and I’m not a Ted Kennedy fan. However, I like actor Jason Clarke and the trailer for this movie looked interesting. It looks like this movie might be an intriguing character piece, and thankfully it was just that. This movie delves into Ted Kennedy and tries to bring to life who he was and what it was like for him when this incident happened. It doesn’t skew heavy handed one way or the other, but tries to show a sympathetic dramatization that ultimately leaves the judgement up to the viewers. While it is sympathetic to Ted Kennedy, it’s only in so much of a way that you can see how he might have grappled with the situation and made some of the terrible decisions that he did. Face it, he waited 10 hours to report an accident to the police which involved the death of someone. That’s not someone who made a great decision. That’s someone faced with a crisis and struggling to figure out what to do. And that’s what the movie explores. What was he thinking? Why did he do the things he did? How could this thing have happened int he first place? And how did it go so wrong?

Worth noting the writers for this film are first time film writers, at least for a feature length film. Director John Curran has done a few films, but probably none that you’ve ever seen. He tends to do dramas, so this one was definitely in his bailiwick. The acting is great, the dialog is well written, and it’s a great little period piece. If you like dramas and your open to a political one focusing on the Chappaquiddick incident, this one is worth a watch, though you may want to wait to catch this on the small screen if you don’t have something like MoviePass. I give it a solid three out of five metal bikinis.

Reviewed By: Skuldren for Roqoo Depot.