2K Replay: BOBBY

 by Adam Riske

Nominated for “Best Screenplay” (Emilio Estevez) at the St. Louis Film Critics Association Awards. He lost to Peter Morgan for The Queen.

• Best Scene/Moment: The scene in the kitchen where Laurence Fishburne, Jacob Vargas, and Freddy Rodriguez argue and joke around while eating cobbler. The dialogue is interesting and it made me want cobbler, thus working on multiple levels.

• Best Song (tie): “Grazing in the Grass” by Hugh Masekela and “Tracks of My Tears” by Smokey Robinson

• Best Merch: A “Bobby…Cast Signed 8x12 Photo…” for $299.99. I like this autograph because it looks like everyone signed it while riding on the back of a motorcycle. It looks insane. The photo was signed by Emilio Estevez, Ashton Kutcher (who the seller calls out is a “tough signer”), Demi Moore (said here to be a “very tough signer”), Sharon Stone, Christian Slater, William H. Macy, Joshua Jackson, Nick Cannon, and Joy Bryant. Do you think Kutcher and Moore bonded over being tough signers which led to their marriage?

• Director Grade: Bobby was directed by Emilio Estevez.
Great Movies: N/A
Good Movies: Men at Work, Bobby
OK Movies: N/A
Bad Movies: N/A
Unseen By Me: Wisdom, The War at Home, Rated X, Culture Clash in AmeriCCa, The Way, The Public
Overall Grade: B

• Double It with This 2006 Movie: All the King’s Men

• Year 2006 Movies to Trailer Before Them: Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing, Man of the Year, The Sentinel

• Ella McCay or Bobby? Tie

• Mall Movie? Maybe. It aspires to be a prestige Oscar movie that would play at the fancy theater in town, but it feels like a B-tier wannabe mall epic to me. I say this affectionately.

• Only in 2006: A dramatic turn by Nick Cannon.

• Scene Stealer (tie): Anthony Hopkins and Christian Slater.

• I Miss: Large ensemble movies with tons of movie stars in small roles.

• I Don’t Miss: Giving Ashton Kutcher parts in dramas and counting on him blending in.

• 2006 Crush (tie): Lindsay Lohan and Mary Elizabeth Winstead.

• 2026 Crush (tie): Sharon Stone and Mary Elizabeth Winstead.

• What I Thought in 2006: I remember sort of rolling my eyes at Bobby when it came out because it felt try hard coming from Emilio Estevez. Eventually I watched it because of the cast and thought it was better than I expected.

• What I Think in 2026: I might like Bobby more now than I did back in 2006. It’s earnest and the kind of big ensemble drama I miss being made by Hollywood. It’s clumsy at times but lands the big emotional punch at the end that it needs to. Overall, I think Bobby is a bit underrated now that it can exist as just a movie and not an awards hopeful.