Review for The Kennedys

The Kennedys covers over thirty years of the lives of the most influential political family in America. It covers the lives of a number of Kennedys mainly focusing on Joseph P. Kennedy Sr (Tom Wilkinson), John F. Kennedy (Greg Kinear) and Robert F. Kennedy (Barry Pepper).

The series over the eight episodes covers the most important points in their lives including Kennedy Sr's attempts to keep the USA out of the Second World War, the death of Joseph Jr during the war, the political career of JFK and RFK and of course both of their assassinations.

The show also looks at some of the personal elements to the family, such as JFK's alledged infidelity with the likes of Marilyn Monroe (Charlotte Sullivan) and his marriage with Jackie (Katie Holmes). Many of the family members are not included and many things are missed out or simply not established.

The Kennedys is either the greatest docu-drama ever created or a complete waste of time. For the life of me I just can't decide. The fact that in the US The History Channel refused to show it (despite being shown on the same channel in the UK) is not a good sign that the series is wholly accurate.

If you have a rough knowledge of the Kennedy family (ie. JFK's and RFK's assassination and a few other minor details) then this may indeed be thoroughly fascinating for you. However, if you know anything of the family you will realise that this is almost like they have simply cherry picked all the best moments from the Kennedys and avoided anything else.

At only eight episodes it at times all feels just so rushed. Within the eight episodes they cover three decades of history and really I just do not think that this is enough. If they wanted to do the Kennedy legacy justice they should have split this into two parts have eight episodes that end with the election of JFK and then the second season could deal with the rest. As it is by the second episode JFK is elected and you have to wonder did they think that his time during the war and his race towards election was not interesting enough to warrant a few more episodes?

The problem with the episode concerning JFK's assassination is that Oliver Stone's powerful film JFK exists and the fact that they don't dedicate at least a full episode or two to it is shocking. This is also the same for the assassination of RFK who is almost forgotten throughout the series.

The sad thing about all of this is that the mini-series as a whole is well made. It looks authentic and the acting by most is excellent, particulalry Tom Wilkinson and Barry Pepper. However, to play one of the most charismatic politicians in American history for some reason they decided to cast the black hole of charisma Greg Kinnear, who simply cannot convey the impact of John F Kennedy. Also despite her looking a lot like Jackie, Katie Holmes looks completely out of her depth throughout.

The DVD comes with a making of that doesn't actually reveal anything and a trailer. The lack of a commentary is shocking as only with thorough analysis by the creators would I be able to ascertain why certain things were done... or not done. The problems the series had in airing is also something that could have been discussed, but nothing of this is included.

The Kennedys is not a bad docu-drama, it's just not the excellent one that we all expected. When you have 24's Emmy award winning director Jon Cassar at the helm you would think he would have produced a show of that calibre. Sadly, that is not the guess. Rather than being an important look at the lives of the Kennedy family it is utterly forgettable.