I'm not feeling the love for 'Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette'

There are few families as powerful and mythical in modern American history as the Kennedys. From former President John F. Kennedy to Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the controversial secretary of health and human services, this political dynasty has maintained its presence in the American cultural sphere in a variety of ways. The new FX show “Love Story” capitalizes on this fascination by focusing on one of *the *it-couples of the ’90s — John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette.

“Love Story” marks the fifth installment in the American Story franchise, which includes “American Horror Story” and “American Crime Story.” Much like its predecessors, “Love Story” is a tragic one. The story of John F. Kennedy Jr. (Paul Anthony Kelly, “Body Language”), the son of President Kennedy, and Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy (Sarah Pidgeon, “Tiny Beautiful Things”) ends in 1999, when the couple and Bessette’s sister were killed in a plane crash en route to a wedding.

With this historical context looming, the show doesn’t shy away from its ending. The first episode opens with Carolyn getting ready to attend the wedding. After replacing her bright red nails with a muted nude shade, she meets up with John and her sister Lauren (Sydney Lemmon, “Fear the Walking Dead”) at a small airport to board the plane piloted by John.

The show then cuts back to seven years prior to the accident, allowing “Love Story” creator Connor Hines to set the stage for John and Carolyn’s relationship to take root in its three-episode initial release.

For those familiar with executive producer Ryan Murphy’s (“Glee”) recent biopic work, there have been controversial dramatizations of infamous figures like serial killers Andrew Cunanan and Jeffrey Dahmer. For “Love Story,” Hines did not consult the Kennedy family (which wouldn’t be the first time for a Murphy-produced biopic) and instead relied on Elizabeth Beller’s 2024 biography “Once Upon A Time: The Captivating Life of Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy” to guide the show’s plotline.

No biopic will ever align with history perfectly, especially for public figures as private as Bessette herself. Regardless of whether the show is different from the Kennedy couple in real life (as some are trying to figure out), “Love Story” relies too much on its audience’s vested interest in the real Kennedy Jr. and Bessette to keep us watching instead of focusing on developing their on-screen equivalents.

But honestly? I don’t care about either.

The first three episodes drag you through a painful and unfun slow-burn start to their romance. The actual romance driving the show is overshadowed by the various issues plaguing the Kennedy family, like John’s failing relationship with actress Daryl Hannah (Dree Hemingway, “Starlet”) and former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis’ (Naomi Watts, “Feud: Capote vs. The Swans”) deteriorating health; it feels like I’m being squeezed through all of these subplots for little gain in the main romantic storyline.

On top of that, the character dramatizations should have a limit. Sure, the show’s team waited for Beller’s biography of Bessette to come out so they could further flesh out Carolyn’s character. That’s great and all, but between seeing Watts’ performance as former-first-lady-turned-overbearing-and-rich-mother and the exaggeratedly aloof interpretation of Hannah (who is still alive today), these portrayals just felt insensitive as they seemed more like exaggerated tropes than actual characters and people.

Alongside these portrayals that feel out-of-touch, “Love Story” also fumbles in recreating another key aspect of the couple: their wardrobe. Considering the couple’s footprint on the ’90s fashion scene and beyond, “Love Story” doesn’t recreate their timeless outfits. Instead, it offers something that looks closer to what you would find on a throwback fashion edit from a fashion retailer today. Perhaps it is the fabrics of modern fashion or maybe it is the fact that ’90s fashion has been coming back (and fast fashion is trying to replicate it). Either way, you could place the show’s John and Carolyn into the modern world, and they would fit right in — and not in the “forever timeless” way either.

For a couple whose presence was as all-encompassing as Kennedy and Bessette’s, “Love Story” finds itself under intense scrutiny by the public and even members of the Kennedy family too. This was to be expected, as their entire relationship was heavily documented by tabloids through their publicized plane crash (and it is the Kennedys after all). It’s unfortunate that, 27 years later, the allure of these pseudo-American royals has faded, and despite the show’s attempts to revive the magic, they are failing to recreate that in these first few episodes. It may get better as the show progresses, but fasten your seatbelts — this is going to be a long ride.

Daily Arts Writer Eilene Koo can be reached at *[email protected]*.