First things first: I love Lucille Ball. I love her comedy. I love her business sense. I love that she demonstrated such chutzpah at a time when it was often seen as a liability in women.
Seriously. I love Lucy.
That being said, as much as I wanted to, I don’t love “Being the Ricardos,” writer-director Aaron Sorkin’s fractured, unfocused drama chronicling one key week in both Ball’s career and her marriage to Desi Arnaz.
I love parts of it, mind you. But taken as a whole, Sorkin has some ‘splaining to do.
As weird as it feels to say given his track record, he’s the reason “Being the Ricardos” has so much trouble living up to Ball’s considerable comic legacy.
‘BEING THE RICARDOS’
2.5 stars, out of 4
SNAPSHOT: Aaron Sorkin writes and directs a fact-based drama chronicling one particularly tumultuous week in the making of an episode of the classic sitcom “I Love Lucy.”
CAST: Nicole Kidman, Javier Bardem, J.K. Simmons, Nina Arianda, Tony Hale, Alia Shawkat.
DIRECTOR: Sorkin.
MPAA rating: R, for language.
RUNNING TIME: 2 hours 11 minutes.
WHEN AND WHERE: Now in theaters; streaming on Amazon Prime Video starting Dec. 21.
Hollywood’s reigning master of storytelling pace — embodied mostly, but not exclusively, in his knack for rapid-fire dialogue interspersed with brilliantly crafted monologues — he has been as reliable a talent as they come for the past 30 years, from his screenwriting on “A Few Good Men” and “The West Wing” to his direction of last year’s “The Trial of The Chicago 7.”
With “Being the Ricardos,” he makes a rare stumble.
Instead of delivering a fast-paced, wit-laced look at one of 20th-century America’s most important and cherished comedians, he gives us a dull, depressing disappointment.
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That’s a shame not just because Lucille Ball is such an intriguing subject for a movie but also because Sorkin’s film looks on paper like a sure-fire winner.
For starters, there’s his A-plus cast, which includes Oscar winners Nicole Kidman as Ball, Javier Bardem as Arnaz, and J.K. Simmons as their co-star and TV neighbor William Frawley.
All three are near-perfect in their roles, as one might expect. That’s particularly true when it comes to Kidman’s eerily accurate vocal imitation of Ball. Bardem’s pitch-perfect capturing of Arnaz’s large-as-life mannerisms, not to mention his Cuban accent, is equally masterful.
They might not quite disappear into the roles — Sorkin wisely chose true actors instead of lookalikes to anchor his film — but they certainly capture the essence of Lucy and Desi. I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see either or both make a mark on Hollywood’s just-around-the-corner award season.
The film’s hair, costumes and set designs are similarly on point and deserving of note.
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But what Sorkin, as the film’s screenwriter, seems to forget is that, for nearly everyone in his audience who knows the name “Lucille Ball,” it is one that evokes joy — which is one thing his film lacks.
Granted, Sorkin’s film chronicles a particularly difficult week in Ball and Arnaz’s personal and professional lives, but it’s a miscalculation to think it can coast along on a mere smattering of chuckles and his subjects’ reputation.
The structure of Sorkin’s film is admittedly built on a smart idea, divided as it is into daylong chapters, interrupted by the occasional flashback, that together chronicle the making of a single episode of the classic CBS sitcom “I Love Lucy.”
If he would have stuck with that idea and focused on Ball’s comedy and creative process — indeed, to celebrate her for what she means to American entertainment — he might have been on to something.
Ladies and gentlemen, step right up and experience a one-of-a-kind entertainment.
It speaks volumes that the most enjoyable parts of “Being the Ricardos” are easily those in which he unleashes Kidman to re-create a classic scene from “I Love Lucy” or offers a peek behind the curtain as she builds a scene.
Instead, though, Sorkin decided to go the soap opera route, cluttering his film with melodramatic subplots, including the network’s reaction to Ball’s pregnancy with Desi Arnaz Jr., her run-in with the House Un-American Activities Commission and her confrontation with Arnaz Sr. over his marital infidelity.
It all feels suspiciously like Sorkin couldn’t decide which subplot would work best, so he decided just to hurl all of them against the wall in the hopes one would stick
None really do.
It might have worked better had he chosen one of those subplots and run with it. (My vote is for the pregnancy thing, which is pretty amusing in addition to being illustrative of Lucy’s admirable confidence and cojones.) All three of them, though, make the story feel like an overcrowded gossip column in motion.
You want to introduce your kids or grandkids to the undeniable pleasures of “I Love Lucy”? Then I’ve got one word for you: re-runs.
Because “Being the Ricardos” doesn’t do Lucy justice or suitably celebrate her career.
And, above all, it is no fun.
