The speckled casting has caused many to wonder and expect less half-baked representations, but rest assured, the work from Lindsay Lohan, Nick Cannon, Demi Moore and even the film’s director stands shoulder-to-shoulder with the likes of film awards regulars William H. Macy, Helen Hunt, Laurence Fishburne and Anthony Hopkins to form a truly organic ensemble. Before long, one settles into a state of watching characters, not actors. It really is something special and it was always the most obvious hurdle, one capably cleared. If pressed to pick favorites (and the subjectivity of the matter will command favorites more so than definitive stand-outs), I would say I was most taken by the performances of Cannon, Hopkins and Freddy Rodriguez. But beyond performances, what is much more interesting is how much Estevez obviously cared about his film’s subject.

Have we at all considered how the B.O. will effect this? It's going wide over Thnaksgiving weekend, with 6 other films and Happy Feet and Casino Royale in their second weeks. Thats a lot to overcome, and outside of Crash the "Sprawling Cast of Dozens" genre has seen little success in recent years. Magnolia, anyone?

I don't see how it can make any more then $25M, which is basically the mininum for a wide release Best Picture contender.

I ran into a Bobby disser yesterday afternoon at the "indie" publicist hotel, the Intercontinental. To be specific, he shrugged his shoulders, shook his head and kind of grimaced after mentioning that he'd seen it. The best thing about it, he said with some enthusiasm, is the archival footage of Robert F. Kennedy. The worst thing, he claimed, is Ashton Kutcher's performance as a late '60s hippy-dippy type.