Killing Kennedy: reviews

What the critics say average 5.4 from 14 outlets

• 8.3 Boston HeraldMark A. Perigard Still, the pace and the performances carry the film. Read
• 7.5 Chicago Sun-TimesLori Rackl Rob Lowe does a respectable turn as JFK. It's the lesser-known story of Lee Harvey Oswald, expertly played with simmering anger by Will Rothhaar, that's most interesting.
• 7.5 Entertainment WeeklyJeff Jensen A solidly watchable, quickly forgettable dramatic snapshot of indelible history.
• 7.0 The Wall Street JournalNancy DeWolf Smith Like the book on which it is based, 'Killing Kennedy' sticks pretty much to knowable facts. Think of it as a Cliffs Notes version of the Warren Commission report. Read
• 6.7 Uncle BarkyEd Bark 'Killing Kennedy' easily could have been twice its length, the better to add both nuance and context. Instead it's a watchable film with many missing parts, a broadly drawn Classics Illustrated version of what happened and why. Read
• 6.0 Philadelphia Daily NewsEllen Gray It's hardly groundbreaking, but if you are documentary-challenged, or don't know much about Lee Harvey Oswald (Will Rothhaar) and his Russia-born wife, Marina (Michelle Trachtenberg), you might learn something. Also: Lowe's Kennedy hair is truly amazing. Read
• 5.8 NewsdayVerne Gay We already know too much and paradoxically too little about the JFK assassination. A TV movie needed to tell us something we don't know. No dice here.
• 5.0 San Francisco ChronicleDavid Wiegand You won't come away from it with any new answers, but it's a useful reminder of why the drama of that day has transfixed Americans for half a century. Read
• 5.0 Sioux City JournalBruce Miller The attempt to make this a story about two men grates. It's as if someone wanted to elevate Oswald in order to humanize Kennedy. It doesn't work, nor does the Oswald funeral scene.
• 4.2 The A.V. ClubZack Handlen There's no real attempt at authenticity or immediacy, but the clarity of simple A to B to C storytelling offers some satisfaction. On the whole, it's an unengaged affair. Read
• 4.0 New York Daily NewsDavid Hinckley There's nothing terribly wrong with 'Killing Kennedy'. We just don't need the splashes of Hollywood in a story we already know way too well. Read
• 3.0 VarietyBrian Lowry 'Killing Kennedy' is so earnest and episodic as to sap any dramatic life from the movie, which weaves in selected news footage to enhance its sense of authenticity. Virtually all the dialogue is stiff and on the nose. Read
• 3.0 The Washington PostHank Stuever Instead of moving on, 'Killing Kennedy' is an exercise in standing so stiffly that you'll wonder if it was produced by Madame Tussauds.
• 3.0 Time Out It takes an awfully long time to add nothing at all to an endlessly scrutinised story. Dutiful, but deadly dull. Read