Being the Ricardos

If you loved I love Lucy, then Watch This!

Is a lot of fun. A great look into the day to day of filming the show. Great cast, lots of actors from the office. Maybe from arrested development.

Javier Bardem does an amazing job of being Ricky Ricardo.

❤x8
Aside from the fact that I can think of several other actors that would have been a better choice to play Lucy, this was still quite a good and interesting movie.
I really liked how they interweaved multiple storylines into the movie. I knew that Desi and Lucy were powerful people back in the day, but had no idea what kind of a powerhouse they were together.

How I rate:
1-3 ❤ = seriously! don't waste your time
4-6 ❤ = you may or may not enjoy this
7-8 ❤ = I expect you will like this too
9-10 ❤ = movies and TV shows I really love!

[Amazon] Sorkin gets a biopic concentrating on a single week, and talking about topics like sexism and blacklists, but also the talent and charm of an era. He has, as usual, some remarkable dialogue and a less inspired direction, but above all an extraordinary work by Nicole Kidman, well supported by a charming Javier Bardem and the excellent cast. The ineffectiveness of the documentary style scenes is made up by the fascinating recreation of the comic inspiration of Lucille Ball, uncredited director.

Javier did an amazing job.
I did not believe Nicole Kidman as Lucille Ball. She nailed the voice yes but body language & facial expression NO. I have have seen plenty of interviews and such of Lucille Ball not playing a character and just being herself and Nicole Kidman did not get it done here at all.
Also, maybe the name of the movie should have been “Lucille Ricardo” because it was about Lucy and HER choices and HER feelings about her career and her marriage.
You see very little of this story from Desi’s perspective. Everything about Desi we see it viewed through the lens of Lucy’s feelings, fears, insecurities and worries.
It was a good movie but I felt like there were some wrong decisions taken creatively here.
The casting of the Lucy, the title of the movie and also another issue which I won’t mention because it’s spoiler but it effects my over all feeling on this movie.
It was good and I may watch it again just because I like movies about real people and history and because Javier Bardem and J.K. Simmons were so damn amazing in it! BUT it does not deserve a Best Picture nod or a Best Actress nod at all.

Kidman is great in the role of Lucy but the movie is less I Love Lucy and more I tolerate Lucy!

I wasn't sure I was going to be interested in this because I'm not a huge "I Love Lucy" fan. However, the deep dive into this harrowing week for Lucy and the show's cast was very interesting. The relationships between the characters were taken a little past the surface, Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem stole the show, and the auxiliary characters all played their roles well. I gave it 4 stars because I could recommend this to anyone. If you have a serious problem with an actor not perfectly playing an actual person, then you may just be unrealistic. It isn't easy to play an icon.

The good stuff:
** The characterizations of Lucy and Desi were wonderful. We learned how each had a great mind for the business, but also respected each other's career.
** Alia Shawkat as Madelyn Pugh, the only female writer in the room, was wonderful. Both funny and tough, I imagine she paved the way for many women to penetrate the production teams in TV and movies.
** The director of this movie did a great job presenting each aspect of the dumpster fire this one week appeared to be.

The bummers:
-- I don't think the documentary style was a great idea. I liked some of the dialogue there, but it just wasn't necessary.
-- 2 hours, 13 minutes is a little long for a movie like this.

Knowing nothing about Lucille Ball or Desi Arnaz before watching this other than their famous roles on I Love Lucy, this was an interesting movie. If you already know about [spoiler]the accusations against Lucille Ball for being a Communist or about their divorce[/spoiler] then you might not enjoy it as much, especially since they change the timelines. It seems that all of these things did not happen in the same week and [spoiler]Desi Arnaz's stroke of genius call to Hoover[/spoiler] did not happen at all. There's also an attempt to sprinkle in some documentary style interviews with actors portraying the older versions of some of the cast that didn't really work for me. I thought those bits could have just been cut out entirely. And yes, we all see Kidman's cosmetic work and are perhaps a little _puzzled_ by the choice of Bardem for the role of Desi but this really didn't bother me. I thought the film worked. It's dialogue heavy, which is to be expected from writer Aaron Sorkin. And while J.K. Simmons and Nina Arianda are in it a decent bit, this really is all about Lucy and Desi so they have the lion's share of screen time. Overall, a good film that felt like a quick 2 hours.

Good job of portraying Lucy's strength behind the scenes. During the recreations of episodes, she DOES do a good Lucy...but she doesn't feel it necessary to keep that going "off camera." Both Nina Arianda and J.K. Simmons put in outstanding supporting work here and should be commended.

Commenting on this film without having watched I love Lucy may cause a distant opinion. I just saw a movie about a show I have heard of and that I know it was very popular and importante for TV in the US. I liked the story and how it was presented. Nicole Kidman as Lucille Ball holds everything together and makes the audience to connect with the character. The fake interviews were a good idea but at some moments they kind of forgets they had to add them so they feel disconnected from the movie. Another thing that I disliked was the length. It could have had less minutes, without the scenes when she gets the film part which besides is confusing.

I actually enjoyed this to my surprise. 😲 I especially enjoyed Lucy's sharp, quick and sarcastic tongue.