The Kennedys: reviews

The Kennedys had its LA premiere this week ahead of a screening on the cable ReelzChannel in the US.

Both the Hollywood Reporter and Variety are scathing of the show’s pace.

This will air on ABC1 in May.

Hollywood Reporter said:
If you’re thinking that Kennedys is a drinking game just waiting to be born, yes, that’s true. (Drink whenever Holmes tilts her head to the side; drink when Joe Kennedy is being a jerk, etc.) But if you’re thinking that this miniseries is so bad that it’s good, you need to be disabused of that notion immediately. Kennedys is a hamfisted mess, both slothful in its pacing and leaden in whatever underlying message was meant to be given. It’s not the Kennedy family or legacy that suffers here, but the people involved in the project. They had better hope people can’t find Reelz on their channel lineup.

Variety said:
Controversy shouldn’t obscure the major flaw in “The Kennedys”: Not mangling history or sullying a famous family, but being painfully shallow and woefully bad. Aside from haircuts and intermittent accents, the eight-hour miniseries’ main preoccupation is sex — implied, but never really shown. For all that, given the abundance of trashy Kennedy-related fare through the years, it’s puzzling why History belatedly opted to punt on this high-profile scripted endeavor, which instead lands with a thud on ReelzChannel over six nights. Assembled by a team best known for “24,” the ticking clock here merely counts down how much longer till it’s over.

The Independent said:
Kinnear gives a strong performance as John, Wilkinson is suitably reptilian as paterfamilias Joe, the always watchable Barry Pepper excels as the conflicted Bobby and Holmes certainly looks the part as Jackie, although the feeling persists that she was cast more for her resemblance to the former First Lady than anything else. As to the accuracy or otherwise, there are a few controversial scenes: Joe is shown engaging in sharp practices to ensure that his son wins a congressional seat and meeting with mob boss Sam Giancana to swing the Presidential election in his son’s favour; John receives amphetamine injections for debilitating pain and spreads his famous charms widely, if not always that wisely. More surprisingly, Sorensen no longer features, his dialogue split between John and Bobby (to keep the focus on the main characters, according to the series makers).

Daily Caller:
Quite simply, there was not a single moment in the two hours I saw that was both anti-Kennedy and not easily supportable by the known historical record. Frankly, I have never felt better about the Kennedy family than I did after seeing episodes three and five. Conservatives will likely experience the same phenomenon as we now see President Kennedy through the prism of our current president, which makes JFK seem like a right-winger. As for the theatrical elements, Greg Kinnear is simply the most convincing JFK I have ever seen. He looks just like him (though the hair might be slightly off) and he does just enough of the accent to be credible without making that the distraction that it inevitably becomes. Similarly, Katie Holmes is a dead wringer for Jackie, though, since so little is known about the real Jackie Kennedy, it is tough to judge how accurate her portrayal of her really is. Other than a chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who acts like a General Patton parody on a caffeine high, the rest of the cast is also outstanding and the production elements are remarkable, especially for an eight-part TV show. I highly recommend doing everything you can to watch “The Kennedys.”