Chappaquiddick

2017 Directed by John Curran

The Untold True Story

Ted Kennedy's life and political career become derailed in the aftermath of a fatal car accident in 1969 that claims the life of a young campaign strategist, Mary Jo Kopechne.

Jason Clarke Kate Mara Ed Helms Bruce Dern Taylor Nichols Lexie Roth Andria Blackman David De Beck Olivia Thirlby Clancy Brown Damien Di Paola Matthew Lawler Bob Jaffe Bill Mootos Sigrid Lium Susan Garibotto Jim Gaffigan John Fiore Marinko Radakovic Alison Wachtler Angela Hope Smith Dustin Tucker Vincent Tycer Victor Warren Thomas Kee Noah Carpenter Donald Watson Charlotte Dore Tim Jackson Show All…

Alternative Titles

The Senator, The Last Son, LE SECRET DES KENNEDY, Das Alibi – Spiel der Macht

drama thriller history

107 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by Meg Robocops 1

The most tense theater going experience I've had in recent memory.
Not the movie, Just when I was pronouncing the film's title to the employee in the box office, I mean.
Review by David Sims ★★★

Unsparing, horrifyingly mundane, pretty well-acted. Impressively damning. A bit dreary. Good!
Review by chavel ★★★½

I went in hoping that it would amount to some minor footnote that might dabble with an interesting point or two, but knew a quarter through that Chappaquiddick is the kind of necessary film that is much better than expectations and that gets underrated. There have been many tragic stories plucked from the Kennedy dynasty, and this one dives into a key chapter in Ted Kennedy’s life. Ted is judged by many as their least favorite Kennedy, and no wonder. Ted (Jason Clarke, who aces every ignominious mannerism of this man) was by 1969 a 37-year old Senator from Massachusetts, who while on vacation in Martha’s Vineyard drove drunk over a bridge with no guard rails, with the car turning…
Review by Erin ★★★ 1

*thick new england accent* manslaughta
Review by lauren ★★★ 1

you expect me to feel sorry for him?? when he knowingly let that woman die?? and he was able to go on unscathed, serve for years and years in the senate, and most of all, escape a prison sentence....TO FREEDOM!!!!????!!!???!!
Review by Jak-Luke Sharp ★★★★ 2

Signature. Apple TV
2.35:1
Color + Monochrome
16mm + 35mm
12A
”You'll never be great”
A well crafted and a strangely emotional thriller that highlights a great deal of the mystery by answering certain elements, in the same breath creating an enigmatic approach to the ordeal. Most importantly bringing the attention to the forgotten, in terms of the death of Mary Jo Kopechne. A victim in this scandal and controversy due to both the Kennedy era and Kennedy ego.
71

FULL REVIEW AT NERDLY UK
Review by maddie ★★★

why is ed helms playing a kennedy what the hell is going on
Review by Kristen Yoonsoo Kim 1

that’s chappaquiddick
Review by maneleeo ★★

This could be a well thought out drama, but it suffers from a bland screenplay. Together with the acting, these are the two cornerstones of the film, but the first one is not very smart and overly dramatic. In one of the scenes, Ted Kennedy wants to wear a neck brace for people to feel empathetic towards him, and he asks if he should wear, he is told that he looks stupid in it, and he is like "I'LL WEAR WHATEVER I WANT".
Review by chadnewsbears 3

The all Baby Boomer crowd got a HUGE kick out of that Bay of Pigs joke
Review by ChrisCarr1 ★★★

I very cautiously like this movie.
Review by Allison M. 🌱 ★★★

One of the most controversial and tragic events brought to the screen. Politicians glaze over the horrible things they've done all the time. But this time, Edward "Ted" Kennedy was unable to lie his way out of the scandal that his drinking & driving would cause.
While the film covers a little bit of Mary Jo's character and some people might think that an affair between her and Ted was presumed, no "misconduct" was shown. Unfortunately, people are smarter than that. "Ted" tells the public in one of his speeches that there was nothing between him and Mary Jo, but ... we are left to wonder. Sort of, but not really.
It's an interesting exploration. I thought the guy who played…

Recent reviews

Review by j0wellsy ★★★

Sombre and serious re-telling of the Chappaquiddick incident. A little slow at times but worth a watch.
Review by AkiyoH ★★★

I'd vaguely heard about the Chappaquiddick tragedy before (I don't like to call it an "incident") but didn't know much about it or had given a lot of thought to it before. We let Ted Kennedy get away with negligently crashing his car off a bridge, leaving a young woman to die, and not even reporting it until late the next morning. Sure, this may have been the reason he never got to be President, but this man spent the next four decades as a U.S. senator. I'm not saying we need to turn him into a villain or to not acknowledge he did some good things, but if there was ever a great example of the privilege of being…
Review by madisonjon3013 ★★★★

bold to say here but i thought it was suspenseful and well done. it really shows the fall of a persons political career in a good way.
Review by Vincent ½

Des longueurs incroyables et des personnages sans charisme.
Review by mconroy ★★★½

More compelling than it has any right to be. Far more successful than the aggressively toothless The Front Runner, which I can’t help but compare it too. Clarke is solid as that weasel Ted Kennedy. Ed Helms of all people is better as the angel on his shoulder that’s swatted away at every turn.

An interesting if straightforward recreation of another ‘Kennedy Tragedy’. Although this isn’t a Kennedy tragedy, it’s a Kopechne one. Someone should of told Ted that.
Review by Geek Channel 8 ★★★

Frustrating for the same reason the incident is so frustrating - so few questions are answered, and this film is equivalently vague. Which begs the question, as well made as the film is, is it really needed? Anyone already familiar with the incident likely already knows everything that's going to happen in this movie without needing to see it, and anyone unfamiliar with it is likely not going to be interested and/or can save a couple of hours by spending 5 minutes on Wikipedia.
This is not to say it's a bad movie - it's actually really smooth and polished, with great performances all around, especially Clarke as Senator Kennedy. It's just that the whole thing seems a bit superfluous and TV-movie like.
Review by Natan Mekonnen ★★★

initial thoughts: I find it hard to feel bad for Ted in this, and it kinda all falls apart with that, nice try though, I do kinda like it though
Review by Kneedecker ★

It presented itself so seriously that it’s hard to remember that basically this entire film is speculation. That should have been made more clear (show us different versions of events, for example). Entirely too sympathetic to Ted Kennedy.
Review by drainsworth ★

watched this after reading Joyce Carol Oates' Black Water for a class. i want to say that there is not a single good thing about this movie.
Review by maneleeo ★★

This could be a well thought out drama, but it suffers from a bland screenplay. Together with the acting, these are the two cornerstones of the film, but the first one is not very smart and overly dramatic. In one of the scenes, Ted Kennedy wants to wear a neck brace for people to feel empathetic towards him, and he asks if he should wear, he is told that he looks stupid in it, and he is like "I'LL WEAR WHATEVER I WANT".
Review by lazyjeenius ★★½

Surprisingly mediocre, and a waste of Kate Mara's talent.
Review by Hotdogtree ★★½

Historical Fiction can be cool!

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two and a half giant lying franks out of five
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