Chappaquiddick is a 2017 American drama film directed by John Curran and written by Taylor Allen and Andrew Logan. The film stars Jason Clarke as Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy and Kate Mara as Mary Jo Kopechne, with Ed Helms, Bruce Dern, Jim Gaffigan, Clancy Brown, and Olivia Thirlby in supporting roles. The plot details the 1969 Chappaquiddick incident, wherein Senator Kennedy drove his car into a lake killing Kopechne, and the subsequent political and social ramifications.
Principal photography began in Boston in September 2016. The film originally premiered at the Gala Presentations section at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 10, 2017, and was released in the United States on April 6, 2018, by Entertainment Studios. It received generally positive reviews from critics, with praise for its balanced screenplay and Clarke's performance.
Video Chappaquiddick (film)
Plot
In July, 1969, U.S. Senator from Massachusetts Ted Kennedy (Clarke) gives an interview, where he is questioned about standing in the shadow of his brothers, John Kennedy and Robert Kennedy. After the interview, he calls his cousin, Joe Gargan (Helms) to arrange for hotel rooms on Martha's Vineyard for the Boiler Room Girls, his brother Robert's campaign staff. Ted travels to Chappaquiddick Island, where he meets with Joe and US Attorney General for Massachusetts Paul Markham (Gaffigan) for a sail race. After losing the race, Ted goes to a party at a beach house with his friends and the Boiler Room Girls.
Ted leaves the party with Mary Jo Kopechne (Mara). After a brief stop, they begin driving away, and encounter a police officer from Edgartown. Ted drives away, and drives off of the Dike Bridge into a pond. Ted escapes from the overturned car, and calls out for Mary Jo. He flees the scene, and makes the walk back to the party at the beach house. He tells his story to Gargan and Markham, who drive to the Dike Bridge and unsuccessfully attempt to enter the overturned vehicle. Gargan and Markham take a rowboat to Edgartown with Ted, and insist that he turn himself in to the police. Instead, he returns to his hotel room for the night.
The next morning, the overturned vehicle is discovered by a man and his son, who call the police. The police chief and the fire department recover Kopechne's body from the car, and find that it is registered to Ted. Gargan and Markham realize that Ted has not turned himself in, and insist that he must. Ted and Markham go to the Edgartown Police Department, and wait for the return of Chief Arena. After reading a prepared statement, Ted travels to the Kennedy Compound in Hyannisport.
Upon arriving at home, Ted encounters his disabled father, Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. (Dern), who is disappointed in his son's actions, and feels that he has disgraced the family. Ted meets with his family's legal team, who attempt to portray Ted in a sympathetic manner to encourage national support. Ted attempts to recover his image, and travels to Kopechne's funeral in a neck brace, for which he is ridiculed.
Gargan becomes increasingly disgusted with Ted and his actions, feeling that it neglects the death of Kopechne. As Gargan attempts to resign, Ted requests that he draft his resignation speech. Ted announces that he intends to address the nation. Ted Sorensen (Nichols) writes an apologetic speech for Ted, which he decides to read instead of Gargan's resignation speech.
In the credits, it is explained that Joseph Kennedy Sr. died soon after the incident, Gargan became estranged from the family, and Ted Kennedy served in the U.S. Senate for forty years.
Maps Chappaquiddick (film)
Cast
Production
On December 14, 2015, it was announced that Sam Taylor-Johnson would direct the film, though she later dropped out. On April 25, 2016, it was announced Jason Clarke would play Ted Kennedy, with John Curran directing. On July 7, 2016, Kate Mara and Ed Helms joined the cast, to play Mary Jo Kopechne and Joe Gargan, respectively. On July 20, 2016, Bruce Dern was added as Joseph P. Kennedy Sr., while Jim Gaffigan and Olivia Thirlby joined the cast on August 31, 2016, and principal photography began in Boston on September 7, 2016.
Release
On September 8, 2017, Entertainment Studios acquired distribution rights to the film for $4 million. The film premiered at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival on September 10. The film was initially scheduled for an awards season release, on December 8, 2017, but was moved back to April 6, 2018. The studio spent $16 million on promotion and advertisement.
Reception
Box office
In the United States and Canada, Chappaquiddick was released alongside A Quiet Place, Blockers and The Miracle Season, and was projected to gross $2-4 million from 1,560 theaters in its opening weekend. It ended up debuting above expectations with $5.8 million, finishing 7th at the box office. Deadline Hollywood noted it was still a low figure given Entertainment Picture's $4 million purchase of the film and their $16 million advertising campaign, although the studio itself was satisfied with the results. In its second weekend the film dropped 47% to $3.1 million, finishing 10th.
Critical response
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 78%, based on 102 reviews, and an average rating of 7/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Chappaquidick can't help leaving some of this true story's most intriguing questions unanswered, but it's bolstered by outstanding work from Jason Clarke in the central role." On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating to reviews, the film has an average score of 67 out of 100, based on 32 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale, while PostTrak reported men and women over the age of 25 (the film's largest demographic) gave it respective overall positive scores of 80% and 72%.
Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter called the film methodical but lacking passion, writing: "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... needed more energetic and incisive treatment than it receives in this sober, somewhat slack telling."
Response by journalists and politicians
In a March 2018 interview, Byron Allen, CEO of Entertainment Studios, which distributed the film, stated that "there are some very powerful people who tried to put pressure on me not to release this movie". Boston Herald journalist Howie Carr speculated that this was a reference to Chris Dodd, who had been a longtime friend and ally of Kennedy's when he served in the U.S. Senate, and had more recently been president of the Motion Picture Association of America.
Journalist Neal Gabler, who at the time was writing a biography of Ted Kennedy, criticized the film as a mix of "conjecture and outright fabrication". As one example, he stated, "Contrary to the film's implications, Mr. Kennedy immediately and forever after felt deep remorse and responsibility for the accident; it haunted him." Similarly, longtime Kennedy aide and speechwriter Bob Shrum criticized the film for "trafficking in conspiracy theories", stating that Kennedy had never tried to cover up or minimize his responsibility for Kopechne's death.
Conservative commentator Mark Steyn called Chappaquiddick an "excellent film" that shows how the "acidic glamour of power corrodes" Kennedy and many of those around him. He also stated his opinion that one exchange in the film was based on something Steyn had written: in the film, Kennedy remarks that even acclaimed historical figures, such as Moses, had personal flaws, and his cousin Joe Gargan retorts, "Moses didn't leave a girl at the bottom of the Red Sea." Steyn noted that he had written something very similar in response to a 2009 column by Joan Vennochi praising Kennedy after his death.
Accolades
References
External links
- Official site
- Chappaquiddick on IMDb
- Chappaquiddick at Box Office Mojo
- Chappaquiddick at Rotten Tomatoes
Source of article : Wikipedia
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