Hulu Series Review: Love Story John F. Kennedy Jr. and Caroline Bessette


It’s hard to believe that this July marks the 27th anniversary of one of the worst tragedies in the history of celebrity in this country. This horrific plane crash that caused the death of John, Caroline, and her sister Lauren in July 1999, like the death of Princess Diana in September 1997 and Kobe Bryant in January 2000, was far worse because the mistakes that caused them were all easily preventable.

The nine-episode series on Hulu, “Love Story John F. Kennedy Jr. and Caroline Bessette”, tells the entire story of the relationship between JFK Jr, played by Paul Anthony Kelly, and his wife, Caroline Bessette, revealing so many facts about that most would never have known, including how unlikely it was that they ever got married in the first place.

The frequent arguments that Caroline and John were mostly about John’s extreme fame and the unrelenting rudeness and aggression of the Paparazzi, which, for this series, has to be seen to be believed. Many of the arguments are hard to watch, especially the long one in the 8th episode, where it seems that Caroline was creating problems that did not exist or had no solution, as John tried to fix their problems and then finally gave up and left their apartment. Caroline is then left amazed that he left, even though she was the catalyst for this long argument from the start.

The other major part of this story was John’s attempt to create his own magazine, “George,” and the volatile relationship he had with Michael Berman, played by Michael Nathanson, with Berman amazingly rude to John, in almost every meeting, eventually causing a huge argument that led to a physical fight in John’s office.

The constant chain smoking in this series, with John and mostly Caroline, was hard to watch, considering their extreme wealth and privilege, taking risks like this. JFK Jr. would frequently ride his bike around New York City without a helmet, darting around roads and parked cars without regard to the risks he was taking with his life. John would rarely lock his bike, resulting in many thefts over the years. Clearly someone like John F. Kennedy Jr. had a different way of looking at life.

Actor Naomi Watts, is very good in her role as Jackie Kennedy Onassis who died in May 1994 at the age of 64 of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Early in the series, there were several scenes where it was clear that Jackie did not approve of John’s dating actor Daryl Hannah played by Dree Hemingway.

The scenes leading up to the plane crash in July 1999, were well done, as they just showed all three sitting in this small single-engine plane and John’s disorientation due to the fact that he was never trained and certified for night flying. Why would Caroline and Lauren get into this small plane at night, when they knew that John did not have enough training to fly at night, is a question that will never be answered.

This Hulu series is very well acted and produced, and, surprisingly, it took this many years to develop a story about one of the worst tragedies in American history. The Rotten Tomatoes rating of 81% is too low, with my rating 90% and a strong recommendation.

Oscar Nominations 2026


Some comments about the Oscar nominations, released today, January 22, 2026. Bugonia is one of the worst movies I have ever seen. It’s all about being different and has nothing worthy of any nomination. For a movie about Vampires, “Sinners”, to break the all-time Oscar nomination record by two, with 16 nominations, is as insane as the current trend of bad movies being honored by movie award shows. Sinners was at best an average Vampire movie.

Best Picture
Bugonia
F1
Frankenstein
Hamnet
Marty Supreme
One Battle After Another
The Secret Agent
Sentimental Value
Sinners
Train Dreams

Best Actor
Timothee Chalamet, Marty Supreme
Leonardo DiCaprio, One Battle After Another
Ethan Hawke, Blue Moon
Michael B. Jordan, Sinners
Wagner Moura, The Secret Agent

Best Actress
Jessie Buckley, Hamnet
Rose Byrne, If I Had Legs I’d Kick You
Kate Hudson, Song Sung Blue
Renate Reinsve, Sentimental Value
Emma Stone, Bugonia

Best Supporting Actor
Benicio del Toro, One Battle After Another
Jacob Elordi, Frankenstein
Delroy Lindo, Sinners
Sean Penn, One Battle After Another
Stellan Skarsgard, Sentimental Value

Best Supporting Actress
Elle Fanning, Sentimental Value
Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, Sentimental Value
Amy Madigan, Weapons
Wunmi Mosaku, Sinners
Teyana Taylor, One Battle After Another

Best Director
Chloe Zhao, Hamnet
Josh Safdie, Marty Supreme
Paul Thomas Anderson, One Battle After Another
Joachim Trier, Sentimental Value
Ryan Coogler, Sinners

Best Original Screenplay
Blue Moon
It Was Just an Accident
Marty Supreme
Sentimental Value
Sinners

Best Adapted Screenplay
Bugonia
Frankenstein
Hamnet
One Battle After Another
Train Dreams

Best Casting
Hamnet
Marty Supreme
One Battle After Another
The Secret Agent
Sinners

Best Original Song
“Dear Me,” Diane Warren: Relentless
“Golden,” KPop Demon Hunters
“I Lied to You,” Sinners
“Sweet Dreams of Joy,” Viva Verdi!
“Train Dreams,” Train Dreams

Best Original Score
Bugonia
Frankenstein
Hamnet
One Battle After Another
Sinners

Movie Review: The Housemaid


The new movie “The Housemaid” is about a young woman Millie Calloway, played by Sydney Sweeney, who is desperate and living in her car after being released from prison after 10 years for committing murder. Despite Millie’s education she had no other job options than trying to be a live in housemaid to a family Nina and Brandon Winchester , played by Amanda Seyfried and Brandon Sklenar and their daughter Cece.

The beginning of this story of both normal and predictable, but as the story moves forward we are surprised by one insane revelation after another and this movie does do a very good job at surprising the audience with unexpected twists and turns. Nina has a whole series of mental problems starting with Bipolar disorder and is prone to huge bouts of anger and rage, that also includes lying to and mentally torturing the new housemaid, Millie. Many of these scenes are over the top and disturbing, too many are hard to watch.

The conclusion of this story is a highly unusual 25% of the film, devoted to explaining the story and past events that lead up to Millie, Nina and Brandon living in the same house. In my experience, with films that need to explain what happened, are normally a major sign that this is a bad screenplay and bad movie. However, this time around, the 25% end of story explanations are well enough done that they do not destroy the ending of this movie. However, what was really going on during these two hours, is so convoluted and crazy that it all mostly makes little sense. The final conclusion is violent and even involves mental and physical torture, and the surprises at the end are almost impossible to see coming.

The Rotten Tomatoes ratings for this movie are a too high 78% with my rating, 70% and a moderate recommendation.