A film like this is viewed through the lense of our experience. In the 60s I was politically active, adored Bobby Kennedy and despised LBJ. So naturally I think the film was too kind to LBJ and too unkind to Bobby. But let's put that aside and look at the film itself.
The acting by Woody Harrelson and Jennifer Jason Leigh is excellent. You think you're watching the real thing. They are the only two actors who do such great job, and the others do OK.
There is a real sense that this is a docudrama rather than a film.
My main criticism is that the film makers stopped in mid film. The story of LBJ didn't end with the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. It continued through the devastation of the Vietnam War. The true story is how Johnson squandered the legacy of JFK with his foreign policy, and all that is left out.
The acting by Woody Harrelson and Jennifer Jason Leigh is excellent. You think you're watching the real thing. They are the only two actors who do such great job, and the others do OK.
There is a real sense that this is a docudrama rather than a film.
My main criticism is that the film makers stopped in mid film. The story of LBJ didn't end with the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. It continued through the devastation of the Vietnam War. The true story is how Johnson squandered the legacy of JFK with his foreign policy, and all that is left out.