When there are any landmark, historic anniversaries, the TV world is immersed with honoring those dates with constant prime-time features, and The National Geographic Channel is no exception. On Nov. 10, Killing Kennedy, the docudrama based on the best-selling book by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard, premiered in anticipation of the 50th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
There is no new information with the docudrama; it’s a basic narrative following the few years when Kennedy (portrayed by Rob Lowe) was in office to the life-altering day on Nov. 22, 1963, when Lee Harvey Oswald (William Rothhaar) pulled the trigger. The 94-minute premiere is stagnant, hitting checkpoints of this horrifying event with a lack of depth to make the biopic unforgettable. But in the midst of the stiff script, there were genuine moments with the acting and the story that pulls the TV movie to somewhat worthy standards.
For the performances, Lowe and Rothhaar are joined by Ginnifer Goodwin as Jacqueline Kennedy and Michelle Tratchenburg as Marina Oswald. The biopic does quick clips of each couple’s lives as the years pass. The audience ultimately knows how each person will be connected to the other on the fateful day of the assassination. But scenes like Oswald wooing Marina Oswald and Jacqueline Kennedy’s stoic reaction to her husband’s infidelities offer a hint of what the movie could have been if the timeline had been narrowed.
Given that the biopic follows the notion that Oswald was the lone gunman, Rothhaar and Tratchenburg are given material that, unlike what audiences have seen repeatedly of the Kennedys’ life, enables them to be flexible with their interpretations. Rothhaar is able to convey the difference between the line of “misguided” and “delusional” and how Oswald fell into the latter, while Tratchenburg matches with her own performance as a woman trapped in a frightening marriage in a new place away from her homeland Russia. The way the Oswalds’ relationship is conveyed emphasizes how the lackluster script barely aids Lowe’s and Goodwin’s performances.
Yet the biopic is a reminder how a man fostering an idea can shatter not only a family, but make ripples throughout history. Granted, America might not need another reminder, but Killing Kennedy, though mediocre, is worth the time to see.
Killing Kennedy airs once more on National Geographic on Nov. 22 at 9 p.m. EST.
