In The Home Chappaquiddick

★★★★ Jason Clarke impresses as the last Kennedy brother

Jordan Hoffman – The Guardian

Edge-of-your-seat absorbing

Jada Yuan – Vulture

Exactly what you want it to be: a tense, scrupulous and absorbingly precise piece of history

Owen Gleiberman – Variety

CHAPPAQUIDDICK is a piercing reexamination of the true events surrounding the most difficult seven days of Senator Ted Kennedy’s career when he drove off a bridge, ending the life of his passenger Mary Jo Kopechne, a promising political strategist who had worked on his brother Bobby Kennedy’s presidential campaign the year prior. It starts on the eve of the moon landing, July 18, 1969, at a party in a rented house on Chappaquiddick Island, celebrating a reunion of many Bobby Kennedy campaign workers. With his brother John’s presidential legacy looming large as his promise to land a man on the moon is coming true, Kennedy leaves the party early giving Kopechne a fateful ride to the ferry. He approaches a narrow bridge at angle with the dirt road and in an instant the car flips over into the murky waters below. Kennedy escapes but the 28-year-old campaign worker remains trapped inside. In the aftermath, Kennedy fails to report the accident for nine hours. The Senator struggles to follow his own moral compass and simultaneously protect his family's legacy, all while simply trying to keep his own political ambitions alive.

Directed by John Curran (Tracks, The Painted Veil) from a screenplay by Taylor Allen and Andrew Logan, CHAPPAQUIDDICK features a strong ensemble cast, including Jason Clarke (Ted Kennedy), Kate Mara (Mary Jo Kopechne), Ed Helms, Jim Gaffigan, Clancy Brown, and Taylor Nichols with Olivia Thirlby and Bruce Dern.

Filmmakers
Director: John Curran
Writers: Taylor Allen, Andrew Logan
Cast
Jason Clarke
Kate Mara
Olivia Thirlby
Ed Helms
Bruce Dern
Run Time
106 Minutes
Rating
M
Genre
Biopic
Drama
Historical