Francis Ford Coppola made ‘Jack.” David Fincher made ‘Alien 3.’ Stephen Spielberg did '1941.’ Al Pacino dressed up in a donut-lined suit and sang a song about Dunkaccinos in ‘Jack and Jill.’ Sometimes, even our greatest artists produce a work that is just plain bad. I wish I could say that was the case for Aaron Sorkin’s ‘Being the Ricardos.’ But it is not. If it were truly bad, it would at least be interesting, possibly even entertaining. Instead, it is only an exercise in ego-fueled mediocrity, making it the most forgettable of this awards season’s prestigious contenders.
Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz are entertainment icons whose ground-breaking work radically changed the course of television and entertainment in general. It’s about time we get a fitting exploration of their story. But this isn’t it.
The biggest problem with Sorkin’s approach is immediately apparent. He’s taken great liberties with the timeline of Lucy and Desi’s relationship and their show in order to tell a concise, one-week narrative that covers several major dramas that happened months, even years apart. This isn’t uncommon with historical films. But Sorkin takes a step further - presenting ‘Being the Ricardos’ as a documentary. He hires actors to play older versions of the people portrayed by other actors in the main movie. Even if this narrative device worked (it doesn’t) it would be a massive assumption of legitimacy on the part of a film that is very much not presenting events “as they happened.”
That issue isn’t limited to the narrative. Much has been said about how little Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem look like Lucy and Desi. But great performances have been given in the past by actors who look nothing like who they're playing. The problem lies much deeper. They don't just not look like Lucy and Desi, they don't just not sound like Lucy and Desi - they don't ACT like Lucy & Desi.
I can't profess to be any sort of expert on their lives or the history of their show. But based just on what I do know and what I’ve read from film historians responding to this movie, the two lead characters are massive departures from their real-life counterparts. Instead, they’re reduced to vessels for Sorkin to tell his own story and voice his own opinions, lifting legitimacy from the historical icons he’s purporting to portray.
These issues have always lurked in the corner's of Sorkin's iconic work. A good director could have reigned them in, as many have before. But Sorkin has rejected oversight, and his own worst impulses no longer have anything holding them back. Now Lucy and Desi's legacy (and everyone else along for the ride) are caught in the crosshairs.
If not to accurately present history, what is his point here? It seems, more often than not, to vent the writer’s own issues, role-playing through the image of icons more universally respected. For example, Sorkin, speaking through Kidman as Ball, waves away the concerns raised by a younger writer and by her own co-star about how women are portrayed on their show, a dismissal of legitimate criticism that feels more like Sorkin talking down to his own critics than how Ball would actually react in such a situation.
Even more glaring is the handling of the central McCarthy-era conflict, which is handled with the thoughtful nuance of a sledgehammer. The movie is more concerned with insisting that Lucy wasn’t REALLY a Communist than in condemning the HUAAC, Desi starts dropping right-wing Cuban talking points lifted straight from a Marco Rubio campaign and J. Edgar Hoover himself shows up to save the day and get cheered like an American hero.
By the time the cameras are rolling on this week’s ‘I Love Lucy’ and the credits on our own screens begin to rise, all that’s left is disappointment. A promising story and talented cast squandered on a confused script and passionless direction. ‘Being The Ricardos’ may have been nominated for a litany of Oscars; it is a movie about movie stars, after all. But once the season fades, it will ultimately be remembered as a cautionary tale of how creative egos can sink even the most promising project.
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