"Being the Ricardos" Reveals A Lot But Tries To Do Too Much
Starring Nicole Kidman, Javier Bardem, J.K. Simmons, Nina Arianda, Tony Hale, Alia Shawkat, Jake Lacy, Clark Gregg
Rated R
Biography, drama
Run time: 2 hrs, 11 min
Written and directed by Aaron Sorkin
On Prime December 21, 2021
In no universe did I ever think I would be typing the words, “Nicole Kidman’s portrayal of Lucille Ball,” but here we are. I feel like we’ve been hearing about this biopic of Lucy and Desi for years, and there’s been the same wariness the whole time. On the surface, it’s hard to imagine it being anything short of spectacular. It’s a cast of heavyweights in a movie penned and directed by Aaron Sorkin about a couple that changed what television comedy was to get where we are today. But when you take one step back, it’s a bit insane. I love Nicole Kidman. I’ve watched every show she’s done recently where it’s her and some insane wig or fancy clothing that’s a part of some bigger, suspicious plot. But I certainly would never have put her as Ball. I also don’t think I would have ever looked at Javier Bardem and thought, “You know, he should absolutely play Desi Arnaz.”
The premise of this film is really fascinating: taking a deep dive into one week of Lucy and Desi’s life where everything seemed to happen at once. There was a scandal where Ball was accused of being a Communist, her marriage was a bit rocky, she found out she was pregnant and she’s trying to figure out why something just isn’t feeling right in the show that bears her name. It manages to show a well-rounded view of Ball, both the good and the bad, her obvious intelligence and genius but also her insecurities and the traits that may have made her a difficult coworker at times (and since female characters aren’t always Sorkin’s strong point, this is a big win). We see the story through snippets of “current day” interviews, scenes of the week itself (especially what was happening on set) and what I believe were either memories or flash forwards. Maybe even both. And herein lies the biggest issue I have with this movie. I shouldn’t be questioning when all these things took place in the timeline.
Being the Ricardos showcased my favorite and least favorite aspects of Aaron Sorkin. The whip-smart dialogue that can exhaust some still entertains me, years after I’d seen the first scene of The West Wing. And thankfully, despite casting this film with a lot of people that I don’t think have had to hold their own with the weight of Sorkin’s writing, there weren’t any actors who seemed to struggle with it. However, he also included what is seemingly becoming my least favorite Sorkin trademark: the big, rousing speech where a man seems to sum up all the feelings you should have with some inspirational music behind it. It rubbed me the wrong way in The Trial of the Chicago 7 and the second I heard the stirrings of the music with only about 20 or so minutes left in the movie, I almost audibly groaned. Not every movie needs that kind of moment, but no one is going to tell Sorkin that.
I came to the conclusion that I like almost every piece of this movie on its own, but the directing made me keep focus on places I didn’t need to be. We’re given time stamps for the various days of the week that all this is happening, but there isn’t much in that respect when it comes to flashbacks or forwards, so on more than one occasion, I was utterly befuddled. I don’t know everything about the filmmaking process by any means, but I’m learning I love Sorkin’s writing, but maybe not his directing. I thought the acting itself was relatively solid, but no performance truly wowed me. That is partially because I often got distracted by whatever CGI or prosthetics they did to Nicole Kidman in order to make her look a bit more Lucy-like. However, for a snowed in movie night, it was absolutely worth the time, and I definitely left with more knowledge about this couple and this period in history than I had when I came in.