Cubussoli Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Stometer Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Console best movie i've ever seen.

Gurlyndrobb While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Cineanalyst Three years after "Selma" (2014) was criticized for its portrayal of President Lyndon Baines Johnson during the 1965 Selma to Montgomery marches and voting rights movement, lo and behold, there have been two biopics of LBJ, both of which focus on his role in the passage of the prior Civil Rights Act of 1964. HBO's earlier "All the Way" (2016) also features LBJ's collaboration with Martin Luther King Jr. as a catalyst for the Southern President's surprising turnaround and legislative accomplishments on civil rights, while the late President John F. Kennedy assumes this supporting role in this movie, "LBJ." In lieu of MLK, the most prominent African American in "LBJ" is the President's cook, who he claims is like part of his family.Whereas "All the Way" continues through Johnson's victory in the 1964 presidential election, "LBJ" stops at the President's address to Congress calling for the passage of the Civil Rights Act, but begins with scenes of JFK's fatal trip to Dallas intercut with flashbacks of Johnson's rise to the vice presidency. "LBJ" is especially narrow in its focus on one of America's busiest presidents, with only casual references to Medicare, Medicaid, the Voting Rights Act and the Vietnam War, most of which are only mentioned as the end credits roll. The result is a fawning appraisal of the legacy of a "great man" that bypasses how he is also one of the more controversial figures of the late 20th Century, which may be evidenced merely by reading the conflicting reviews here on IMDb.Rob Reiner and company's daft view of LBJ's process boils down to his mostly making a bunch of phone calls, two episodes of which are edited as montages. He also meets with other leaders of the two camps of opposing Democrats: the Kennedy brothers (with an actor who played RFK a few years ago now playing JFK), as well as Kennedy-supporter and Southern Senator Ralph Yarborough (as portrayed by former President Thomas J. Whitmore), on one side, and Senator Richard Russell as practically the movie's sole embodiment of Democratic and Southern legislators' opposition to the civil rights movement (as portrayed by former Speaker of the House Eli Raphelson). In between these phone calls and meetings, there's some fun made of the President's crassness in describing his nether regions to his tailor or his open-door discussions with staff while he goes to the bathroom--things that have already been shown in other movies and media, from his defecating in "The Butler" (2013) to Rachel Maddow trying to contain her laughter while playing on her MSNBC show the real tape of LBJ's conversation with his tailor. And, there's some psychologizing concerning LBJ's supposed fear that people won't love him.Like Bryan Cranston in "All the Way," Woody Harrelson, reportedly, is about half a foot too short for the part, but he also must wear considerable makeup and prosthetics merely to affect a passing resemblance to the historical figure. Most of the movie is shot above the waist, which conveniently helps to conceal the height differential, as well as his wearing platform shoes. Such a performance and script pale in comparison to decent presidential biopics such as "Lincoln" (2012), or even lesser ones, such as "Hyde Park on Hudson" (2012). A "West Wing" TV episode is likely to be more engrossing than "LBJ," and, indeed, when Aaron Sorkin collaborated with Reiner, it was to greater acclaim than this with "The American President" (1995).

ckblanton-05099 Very disappointed that LBJ was depicted as a hostile foul mouthed man. That couldn't have been farther from the truth. He was known for his "Johnson Treatment" - using his political skills and relationships to bring out the best in people. He wanted this country to be a "Great Society" in which everyone was given a fair chance. In his early years he taught at an impoverished school. As president, he got the Civil Rights Act passed in spite of his southern back ground. He was able to convince his countrymen to do the right thing. He also strengthened Social Security and is the father of Medicare. Until Johnson came along, people had no health insurance in their old age. He wasn't glamorous - he was just good.

bkoganbing I remember Lyndon B. Johnson quite well from the 60s, the man who made possible a social revolution that the Alt right is doing its best to demolish, but who also enlarged the war in Vietnam and left us with a quagmire that haunts us to this day. Although there's a good film out there with Randy Quaid as LBJ Woody Harrelson will be as definitive a Johnson as Raymond Massey was a Lincoln. Harrelson really does come across like LBJ, both the public image and from some of the saltier memoirs of the times. He had both a temper and a command of the fouler parts of the English language. Harrelson is also well matched with Jennifer Jason Leigh as Lady Bird Johnson.A whole life story might one day be filmed either for the big or small screen. The various portions of Johnson's life might make a great miniseries. What we are concerned here with is the years 1960 to 1964 when he is chosen by John F. Kennedy as his Vice Presidential running mate. It was a demotion according to Johnson and two history. No one as majority leader ever had a better grasp of the Senate than Johnson, he was the second most powerful man in government after President Eisenhower. These also were the years that the Civil Rights Revolution kicked into high gear. The white south and those who represented it, all Democrats then, a carryover from the Civil War. were determined to preserve their 'way of life'. The south had a lot of hopes and dreams invested in a southern president, but the country was ready for something wholly different. As Senate Majority Leader Johnson saw the passage of two Civil Rights laws, watered down though in 1957 and 1960.John and Robert Kennedy are played by Jeffrey Donovan and Michael Stahl-David. The contrast in the character of the two brothers is shown here. JFK the more coolly detached and Bobby the more passionate. It made it possible for Jack Kennedy to work with Lyndon. It also made it possible for Bobby to have an unrelenting hatred for LBJ. Their personal feud shaped a lot of the history of the latter part of the last century.When Johnson was in the House Of Representatives his mentor was Sam Rayburn fellow Texan and Speaker of the House. In the Senate it was Richard B. Russell of Georgia, courtly southerner of the upper class plantation south and chair of the Armed Services Committee. Played here by Richard Jenkins, Russell show Johnson all the levers of power and when to use them. Also where all the bodies are buried in Washington, DC. It was with Russell's support with the southern bloc that Johnson became the Senate Majority Whip in third year in the Senate, minority leader in his fifth year and Majority Leader in the seventh year. There relationship has induced much speculation to this day.LBJ is a slice of 60s history and love him for his social revolutionary war on poverty and hate him for the sinking quagmire of Vietnam, LBJ left his mark on the country. And Woody Harrelson has left his mark on LBJ.

st-shot Lyndon Johnson gets a very sympathetic (while RFK does not) look from the most unlikely of defenders in liberal film maker Bob Reiner's LBJ. The grossly misleading title about this larger than life character however covers little of his career, deciding instead to zero in on the period around JFKs assassination, Johnson's ascendancy to the Presidency and passage of The Civil Rights Bill. It offers an interesting look at power play at the highest levels as Johnson intimidated to begin with by all the Harvard intelligentsia in the cabinet attempts to establish himself. Woody Harrellson's LBJ passably captures the crassness and incertitude but fails to deliver the man in full that as Senate Majority leader bullied and cajoled members into line. There are flashes of the famed abrasiveness but they are far out weighed with a pouting, insecure LBJ huddling with Lady Bird. Anyone familiar with this man's public career know the material Reiner had in his arsenal to make an outstanding character study. Instead he only gives us a chapter of an incredibly controversial career when we are expecting a book. LBJ shortchanges.