A worthy if slightly dull talkfest of events immediately prior to and following the assassination of John F. Kennedy – with a focus on Texan Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson.
Forthright and vulgar – and diametrically opposed to a number of Kennedy’s key policies, including the Civil Rights Bill – Johnson nevertheless stepped up to the mark on Kennedy’s death. Some, including Bobby Kennedy (a fresh-faced Michael Stahl-David) believing callously too quickly.
LBJ is an informative biopic of the man who pushed through a great number of landmark social policies but who is ultimately judged as the president who escalated American involvement in Vietnam. It’s a film that very much belongs to Woody Harrelson and his vibrant, convincing performance as the man carrying the weight of the free world on his shoulders.
Rating: 56%
Director: Rob Reiner (The Bucket List, Misery)
Writer: Joey Hartstone
Main cast: Woody Harrelson (The People Versus Larry Flint, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri), Michael Stahl-David (Cloverfield, In Your Eyes), Richard Jenkins (The Hollars, Spotlight)
An Opinion or Two 