Chappaquiddick

Chappaquiddick (2018)

Starring Jason Clarke, Kate Mara, Ed Helms, Jim Gaffigan, Clancy Brown, Bruce Dern, and Olivia Thirlby

Directed by John Curran

Written by Taylor Allen and Andrew Logan

Summary (in 500 words or less): On Friday evening, July 18, 1969, Senator Ted Kennedy (Jason Clarke) was driving a car with Kennedy secretary Mary Jo Kopechne (Kate Mara) as his passenger.  The car ran off a small bridge on the island of Chappaquiddick and overturned, slowly sinking into the water.  Kennedy escaped, but Kopechne did not, perishing in the car.  Kennedy's actions after the accident along with those close to him prove that politics is an ugly game -- it seemingly always has been and always will be.

• Solid, adult-centric drama detailing a scandal that shockingly didn't affect the political aspirations of Senator Ted Kennedy who managed to become a long-standing representative for his state.
• While the public will never know the inner workings of the Kennedy clan on that fateful weekend in July 1969 following Kopechne's death, Chappaquiddick details the likelihood of what went down.  We know that multiple stories were coming out of the Kennedy camp attempting to paint Ted in a better light -- many of them contradicting one another -- and the rapid-paced actions of a clan of lawyers set into motion the events that helped turn the public back into Ted's good graces.  
• At its heart, Chappaquiddick displays just how horrid, underhanded, and truly seedy the game of politics is and we can certainly draw comparisons to both candidates from our last Presidential election to see that nothing has really changed in nearly a half century.
• Jason Clarke delivers a captivating performance as Ted Kennedy, balancing the emotions of a man who knows he did something horribly wrong with a man who desperately wants to please his family and keep the Kennedy name shining in a positive manner.

The RyMickey Rating:  B