[Rating: Swiss Fist]
Being the Ricardos is in select theaters now and on Amazon Prime December 21.
In 1953, Lucille Ball gave birth to Little Ricky to an estimated 44 million television viewers at a time when television was not the prevalent black box we know today. In comparison, the very next day, the inauguration of Dwight Eisenhower drew in about 29 million viewers. The power of Lucille Ball and husband Desi Arnaz through their primetime juggernaut I Love Lucy became a catalyst for what comedy television could and would be in the last seventy years. In 2021, writer/director Aaron Sorkin brings Lucy to the big screen once more in Being the Ricardos, exploring a brief tumultuous time in the lives of Lucille (Nicole Kidman) and Desi (Javier Bardem), as personal and public lives begin to clash. As a biopic, when it works, it works. As a cinematic experience, throw it on streaming and I would have been just as fine with that too.
During the height of the House Un-American Activities Committee of the 40s and 50s when Washington tried to rid out suspected Communist threats, they turned their eyes to Hollywood. One person they questioned was Lucille Ball, who had registered with the Communist Party to honor her grandfather more than caring about politics. And that’s where Sorkin’s story begins to unfold. When it is suspected Lucy could be more than just a red-haired funny gal, she worries about what it could do for her show and eventually her marriage with whispers of infidelity on Desi’s part running rampant through the industry. As rumors swirl from co-stars Vivian Vance (Nina Arianda) and William Frawley (J.K. Simmons) about what could happen to the show, even more trouble arises when Lucille announces she is pregnant. This causes a stir with executive producer Jess Oppenheimer (Tony Hale) and writers Madelyn Pugh (Alia Shawkat) and Bob Carroll Jr. (Jake Lacy) on how to switch things up to possibly include the “Lucy is Expecting” story lines, once sponsors Phillip Morris approve of this risque narrative.
There’s a lot to unpack here in how I felt about Being the Ricardos. On one hand, having seen the majority of I Love Lucy this year, I appreciated how it not only shows you the making of an episode, but the psyche of Lucy crafting her work as a physical comedian and making sure jokes hit. Nicole is good in this role. Her mannerisms will never be that of Lucy, and yet I don’t think that she’s trying to go for that, and I cannot condemn her for not being a total reproduction.
My biggest issue with this is Sorkin’s direction. His strengths definitely are in the writing department and his direction on this makes it seem like a TV movie of the week. Everybody would be guaranteed an Emmy if this was the case. Biopics are too damn hard to make these days, and too hard to please folks. They often feel too gimmicky and full of heavy prosthetics and makeup. J.K. Simmons as Frawley is probably the most spot-on you can get here. Bardem is fine as Desi, but with how deep his voice naturally is, I couldn’t help but thinking, “That’s Javier at a Halloween party.”
Being the Ricardos is a mixed bag. Audiences are going to get a very thin slice of life to how Lucy met Desi and became the Ricardos, but they are also going to get a look at how the most famous woman on television at the time almost lost it all.
If you see Being the Ricardos, take a listen to Turner Classic Movies podcast The Plot Thickens Season 3 which details Lucy’s life including events that occur in this film plus insight from Aaron Sorkin. Plus, I Love Lucy has select episodes streaming on Hulu and Paramount Plus.
Christian Ramos is a classic film fan, having had the dream to host Turner Classic Movies for years now. He also has a large amount of Oscar trivia in his head, remembers dressing as Groucho Marx one Halloween, and cherishes the moment Julianne Moore liked his tweet.
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