Being the Ricardos (2021)

Director: Aaron Sorkin. Cast: Nicole Kidman, Javier Bardem, J.K. Simmons. 131 min. Biography/Drama.

• Every time I sit to watch a movie from a filmmaker I'm interested in, I look to answer the question: Why did he/she make this movie? What was spark that put this into motion? While I respect Aaron Sorkin more as a great writer than a great director, by the end of Being the Ricardos, the story of one tumultuous week in the lives of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz during production of the popular "I Love Lucy" show ... that question went unanswered. By the end I thought: "So what?"  
• Nicole Kidman does not look like Lucille Ball, at all. This is in plain view from the very beginning - significantly questioning the wisdom of casting her in this role. But then there is one mid-movie scene where they're filming the show, and Kidman delivers Lucy's funny wide-eyed charm exactly as it was - and it suddenly hits you: she could've looked like Lucy all along, but intentionally didn't. An actor lives an entirely different life from what we see on screen, and Kidman expresses this concept perfectly. And I'm not saying this because she just won a Golden Globe for her performance last night.
• There's a standing ovation at the end of Sorkin's last film, The Trial of the Chicago 7, and there's a standing ovation at the end of this film. I also remember calls to "All rise!" at the end of A Few Good Men, the masterpiece that first introduced me to Sorkin's masterful writing. The man likes people to stand at the climax. 

MoGo's rating: 6/10

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