Far from perfect but enjoyable, this isn't as much a story but a study of the three Kennedy wives trying to maintain dignity among family tragedy. They're all political wives, one of course a first lady, and two are widowed as the result of assassination. Brash Ethel (Lauren Holly) is like an acerbic Greek chorus, recalling how when she first met Jackie (Jill Hennessy), she played a joke on her, and Jackie responded by leaving her big dinner party early. Along with the obviously more fragile Joan (Leslie Stefanson), they seem to create a bond as they adapt into the big catholic family so it was a surprise to me when Ethel indicated that she could tell that Jackie didn't like her very much.
The men are pale imitations of the real brothers, and at times, they sound more like they're doing James Cagney impressions rather than performing the parts of Jack, Bobby and Teddy. Harve Presell is great but doesn't get a lot of screen time as Joseph Sr., and gets to show the fatherly relationship he had with Jackie. I would have liked to have seen more of the religious but tough Rose who seems constantly to be looking for something to peck at concerning the daughter-in-law. She's funny in a very subtle way that would make me want to see her earlier life, especially her own dealings with a cheating husband. The brief appearance of a badly cast Marilyn Monroe almost made me shut this off, but thar travesty ends as quickly as it began.
Representatives of LBJ, Lady Bird, Aristotle Onassis, Peter Lawford, Nixon and others seems to just be a bunch of name dropping, and the historical flow from one incident to another doesn't seem like anything you couldn't just see in newsreels and read in history books so it's much more interesting to see the three very different women's relationships, both the good and the bad sides, perhaps a bit too personal, but making for good drama when the focus is there. The two assassination sequences (as well as coverage briefly of Martin Luther King's) seem to go on far too long, making me feel intrusive on the poor Jackie and Ethel. There's nothing really remarkable about this that hasn't already been done or written, but outside of minor flaws is not horrible, perhaps just a case of not good enough to capture the family on film.
The men are pale imitations of the real brothers, and at times, they sound more like they're doing James Cagney impressions rather than performing the parts of Jack, Bobby and Teddy. Harve Presell is great but doesn't get a lot of screen time as Joseph Sr., and gets to show the fatherly relationship he had with Jackie. I would have liked to have seen more of the religious but tough Rose who seems constantly to be looking for something to peck at concerning the daughter-in-law. She's funny in a very subtle way that would make me want to see her earlier life, especially her own dealings with a cheating husband. The brief appearance of a badly cast Marilyn Monroe almost made me shut this off, but thar travesty ends as quickly as it began.
Representatives of LBJ, Lady Bird, Aristotle Onassis, Peter Lawford, Nixon and others seems to just be a bunch of name dropping, and the historical flow from one incident to another doesn't seem like anything you couldn't just see in newsreels and read in history books so it's much more interesting to see the three very different women's relationships, both the good and the bad sides, perhaps a bit too personal, but making for good drama when the focus is there. The two assassination sequences (as well as coverage briefly of Martin Luther King's) seem to go on far too long, making me feel intrusive on the poor Jackie and Ethel. There's nothing really remarkable about this that hasn't already been done or written, but outside of minor flaws is not horrible, perhaps just a case of not good enough to capture the family on film.