Meh. There are many better movies to see this year than Aaron Sorkin’s (The Trial of the Chicago 7, Molly’s Game) Being the Ricardos. However, the 2021 Academy Award nominees seem more prominent regarding name recognition than in prior years. Movies that in previous years likely wouldn’t have sniffed a nomination are likely to get multiples this year. Being the Ricardos, with Sorkin and Academy favorites, four-time Oscar nominee Nicole Kidman (The Others, Lion) and three-time nominee Javier Bardem (Biutiful, No Country for Old Men) will receive recognition. Kidman will get a nomination for acting (though she has no chance of winning), but Bardem will not. The film could receive a best-picture nomination, making me cringe.
Having never seen an episode of the show, my curiosity was piqued. Unfortunately, I never felt connected or invested in the plot or its lead characters, Lucille Ball (Kidman) or Desi Arnaz (Bardem). I never knew that the couple was married in real life. By the time the movie concluded, I didn’t really care. Being the Ricardos centers around the final week of production of the quintessential 1950s sitcom, I Love Lucy. Told partly as a documentary, Sorkin needed to utilize this element more consistently to truly be effective.
The film opens with a tabloid article that accused Lucile of being a member of the communist party. Dismissing rumors, Lucile mentions how she innocuously checked a box 20 years prior when she was voting, her reason being that her grandfather was associated with communism. Lucile, Desi, and the other cast and crew are part of the story, trying to produce the show as usual amidst the controversy. At its core, however, Being the Ricardos is more about the tumultuous offscreen relationship between the real-life couple. Accused by Lucile of infidelity early in the movie, Desi believes he has effectively diffused the issue. But Lucile knows differently. It’s not a question of if she’ll confront him about it again, but rather a question of when.
Well-known for her reputation as difficult to work with, Lucile seems more bothered than usual after the false accusations against her. Influenced by public opinion, she worries more about what her fans might think of her than about being a professional on set. Sorkin does a masterful job of showing us that the show’s star got her way more often than not, sometimes to the show’s detriment. However, getting her way home with Desi was a different story; the two clashed quite a bit. It’s hard to imagine working with someone on such a successful sitcom but having a home life where the two people seem passionately in love one minute but are at each other’s throats the next. That’s what we had, though. Regrettably, it just wasn’t even close to being compelling.
Being the Ricardos isn’t a bad movie. But it’s not a film that I’d recommend. For being such an iconic television show, the story selected has a lot of fluff. It’s almost like Clint Eastwood’s Invictus. In the 2009 film, Eastwood had the perfect actor, Morgan Freeman, to play Nelson Mandela. Yet, he picked one of the most boring stories possible. And it barely even featured Mandela. I felt the same about Being the Ricardos. There were elements in place for something more. Instead, it felt flat.
Plot 6/10 (Meh)
Character Development 7/10
Character Chemistry 7/10
Acting 8/10
Screenplay 7/10
Directing 7/10
Cinematography 8.5/10
Sound 7/10
Hook and Reel 7/10
Universal Relevance 9/10
70.5%
Movies You Might Like If You Liked This Movie
- The Trial of the Chicago 7
- Walk the Line
- Joy
- The Social Network
- The Truman Show