Being the Ricardos Movie Review

Being the Ricardos (2021)

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Written by: Aaron Sorkin
Directed by: Aaron Sorkin
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Javier Bardem, Nina Arianda, J.K. Simmons, Alia Shawkat, Jake Lacy, Tony Hale, Ronny Cox, Clark Gregg
Rated: R
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Plot
Follow Lucy and Desi as they face a crisis that could end their careers and another that could end their marriage.

Verdict
This movie soon became boring. Lucille Ball seems difficult to work with, but this movie also strives to make her the smartest, wittiest, and prettiest person in the room at all times whether warranted or not. It doesn't feel realistic, and at least in one scene Lucy fixes a very stupid staging mistake that no one would make just so we can marvel at how smart she is. It's not enough to showcase how smart Lucy is, and she truly is, the movie wants to take shots at everyone else for the added boost. This misses a few good endings to keep going, while juggling the depictedt timeline, multiple flashbacks, and completely unnecessary pseudo-documentary segments.
Skip it.

Review
This isn't as much fun as I thought. I appreciate how this tries to walk us through Lucy's process and her insight. Walking through all of her greatest hits would have been tiring, but this movie only shows one.

I've seen the first season of I Love Lucy. It's a smart show with timeless comedy that's grounded in interpersonal relationships. It's clear Lucille Ball is extremely talented, but I don't like the tactics this movie uses to relay that. Lucy (Nicole Kidman) is demanding, but it goes beyond that. She doesn't seem nice to work with at all because this movie has to make sure we know she's the smartest one in the room at all times. Obviously she knows comedy, but she's condescending about it. The writing orchestrates it to showcase her talent in deceptive ways. One scene that showcases what I don't like about this is where Lucy is re-staging a scene between Fred (J.K. Simmons) and Ethel (Nina Arianda). The two had previously been staged with their backs to the camera, and no one on the set would have let that stand. As soon as I saw it, I thought it was strange. Later in the movie Lucy has the ingenious idea to have them face the camera. It's not ingenious it's standard. This movie want's to misdirect the audience to make a point. There's another scene that makes it seem like Lucy is insecure where she doesn't want Ethel to wear a fancy dress. This issue isn't explored anywhere else. Lucy wants Ethel to look frumpy because that's the average woman, but Lucy doesn't have any desire to connect to the average woman herself.

Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem play Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz

I can only assume the faux-documentary segments are to ground this in realism, but these bits add so little. At one point it works as exposition to quickly catch up a flashback, but the flashbacks mostly only add length. This movie takes place over one week as Lucy and the cast film an episode of the show. This takes place somewhere towards the beginning of Season 2. Cutting the documentary bits and most of the flashbacks would help the pacing and make this feel quicker. So many of those segments add very little. The idea to ground this in one week is great, but the flashbacks try to have it both ways by creating a summary of her life.

The movie wants us to think Lucy does everything and everyone else is presented as props for her. I just don't buy it. Lucy invokes a double standard about how stupid jokes are terrible if it's someone else's idea, but it's wonderful when it's her idea because that's what the audience wants in that moment. This really makes it seem like Lucy just can't be wrong, and the problem is that the real Lucy's talent is undeniable. She carried the actual show, but this movie does her no favors. Sure, it's tough for a woman in this world and even worse in Lucy's time, but some of these scenes make her needlessly harsh.

Much of this movie is contrived just so Lucy looks better. That's a shame when the real Lucy and show were so amazing. This does a poor job of capturing that. It is a smart script in how it sequences some of the flashbacks with the main story, but so many of the flashbacks add very little. The best one is Lucy pitching and getting the show.

The big lead up into the end of the movie is whether the show is canceled as Lucille Ball was accused of being a communist. Anyone that knows anything about the show knows it didn't end. These grave stakes are incredibly hollow. The stakes as much of the character development is false.