emmajane-75091
I love this series. Greg Kinnear was my favorite, but every actor was perfection. Barry Pepper was feisty and wonderful, and I loved Katie Holmes as Jackie. It was a joy to watch. A great production it is.
afarwestent
Uhhh, okay. I don't know if this a spoiler or not. I don't want a ruler across my knuckles so let's just say it does have spoilers.... ??? Wow..This is the first review I've ever written and I'm 51 years old. That's how disgusted I am by this garbage.Anyway, the problem with a story like this is: It's supposed to be based on 'actual history'. But unless you've been living in a cave for 50 years (or watching television), you already know that Oswald didn't shoot JFK. He was the patsy, the fall-guy. There is a picture you can view online of the guy on 'The Grassy Knoll' with a rifle pointed at JFK and cloud of smoke emanating from the end of the barrel... (just google: Badge-Man JFK). Malcolm Wallace, LBJ's personal hit-man, fired from the 6th floor of the depository building where a fingerprint matching Malcolm Wallace was found on one of the boxes in the 'snipers nest' There is so much evidence that proves the 'OFFICIAL STORY' is a lie. It would take a couple of years to present it all here in this forum. So I give this mess a '3' for direction and cinematography... That's it ! I was embarrassed for humanity and repulsed beyond words by this film. It perpetuates the lie right down to the last detail while making JFK and Jackie-O out to be druggies...The CIA and Secret Service murdered JFK on behalf of dozens of powerful men and a few powerful women (Queen Mum for instance). That's it. It was a coup de tat. And the CIA has run the executive branch ever sense. This screenplay is garbage. Sick and repulsive. How dare you !!! .......I'm too disgusted to continue... THE END
theonewithallthecontacts
This miniseries of the Kennedy family was a joy to watch, all the way! First of all, the series covers a lot of controversial and exciting episodes in the 1960's: The Kennedy's campaign for election, Bay of Pigs invasion, Cuba Missile Crisis, civil rights for black people, the JFK assassination and parts of RFK's political campaign for election as President. Each story is handled intriguingly and insightful, yet maintaining the golden entertainment values. Parts of which, is because that the series is handled as a regular huge Hollywood production. The patriotic music playing in the background, excellent cinematography, amazing dialog, superb direction etc.But the series doesn't just cover what happened in The White House during all of these escapades. It rather blends in with the daily life of the Kennedy's. And that's what we see: the daily life of the Kennedy's. I, for one, now has a far greater caricature in my head, concerning the personas of that generation of Kennedy's. Almost every personal conflict inside the family is handled, and with bravour!The acting is all top notch! Greg Kinnear is the heart and soul of this series, having the weight of this series' fate on his shoulders. If he sucked, so would the series. Luckily, Kinnear is all out brilliant in this complex and controversial role of JFK, with everything considered down to the way he walks. I thought, that Kinnear really breathed the role of John F. Kennedy, disappearing into this ambiguous and public persona. Kinnear bears a physical resemblance to JFK, and his accent was very much alike, as well. Kinnear earned a very well deserved Emmy nomination for best leading actor! Barry Pepper surprises with his revolutionary performance as Robert F. Kennedy! He may not look the part a 100 percent, but he manages to recreate his accent very well! Pepper was a joy to watch on-screen, stealing absolute every scene he was in! He handled every emotional reaction with skill and a nice sense of human subtlety to it. For his role, Pepper fairly won the Emmy award for best leading actor! Tom Wilkinson as Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. was a tour de force in it's own right! With every scene Wilkinson seemed to give his absolute best, and it shows! His performance was amusing, heartbreaking, subtle, efficient and moving! Wilkinson earned an Emmy nomination for best supporting actor. Katie Holmes wasn't as good as the three former actors mentioned, in my opinion. Still, she looked the part of Jackie Kennedy quite much, and she showed the right kind of silence to her performance!The reason this series only gets an 8/10, is because that some odd things was left out of production. First of all, I would have liked to have Ted Kennedy included, and behold the actor who could have hopefully exemplified in the role. Instead, Ted's only appearance is in the background as a small boy hearing his name getting mentioned. Second of all, an obvious historical escapade that was left out, was the moon race with the Soviets. Not even a mention there. That would have been more interesting than an episode, partly dedicated to JFK's apparent affair with Marilyn Monroe!Overall, I found the series to be highly enjoyable and very interesting to watch.8/10
mockymur-627-568917
"The Kennedys" was a huge disappointment for me. The script is cartoon-ish and would have worked better with animation rather than established film actors. The accents of the actors were even worse: inconsistent and nothing at all like native Bostonians. Perhaps the jarring fact that "Ethel" is better looking than "Jackie" didn't help, either. I actually met Mrs. Onassis, a few years before her death, and she was still a knockout even then. Katie Holmes was a very poor choice for the role, a Plain Jane trying to pull off an iconic beauty. Greg Kinnear isn't bad as "Jack" but he's way too short. Seeing Holmes looming over him brought back bad memories of another mismatched married couple, namely the "TomKats". Watch this overlong work at your own peril. Giggle at all the right gaffes and you might just like it a little bit more than I did.
