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
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