'Being the Ricardos' Review: Kidman and Sorkin Team Up to Bring Lucille Ball to Life
Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem in Being the Ricardos
With his latest effort, writer-director Aaron Sorkin delivers a crowd-pleasing dramedy with a stellar lead performance by Nicole Kidman.
Icons are so hard to recreate. We see it all the time in the musical bio-pic, where it becomes a Wikipedia page full of the greatest hits of a person’s life rather than actually exploring who they really are and what it was like living through their triumphs as well as their hardships. One of the best writers of the modern bio-pic is the walk and talk wordsmith, Aaron Sorkin. Take his career, in which he’s written or co-written scripts for The Social Network, Moneyball, Steve Jobs, Molly’s Game, and last year’s The Trial of the Chicago 7, all of which tackle their subjects with deep thought and put them under a thorough examination as to why and how the events in their life shaped landed them in their place they are in based on the events of the films.
Thus, there shouldn’t have been skepticism to think his latest effort, ‘Being the Ricardos’, would be any less entertaining and thought provoking as the films listed above. Sure, this is a movie that follows a week in the life of the legendary Lucille Ball (Nicole Kidman) and Desi Arnaz (Javier Bardem) while they are shooting an episode of the classic television show, I Love Lucy. But it’s not that simple as we discover through flash forwards of members of their crew in their older age recanting their time the week of the film’s events. The story is much more complicated, as the FBI is coming after Lucy because when she was young, she checked off on a box that represented herself as a member of the Communist party. While Lucy and Desi have to explain to the higher ups at CBS that she didn’t do it, anyone living under a rock knows that she is part of the Communist party, and must hide this before her career is ruined and the show is canceled. Meanwhile, as this is going on, the latest episodes of season two of the show are underway, but run into a snag, as Lucy and Desi reveal to the writers that Lucy is pregnant. This creates more than the usual friction between the stars and the writers because the couple wants to show Lucy pregnant, which would be a television first.
Nicole Kidman in Being the Ricardos
All this tension is building on set, with cast members and crew beginning to see their stars struggle to keep a smile on their face, as the walls are closing in. But it’s not just the show and Lucy’s politics that are at stake, but her and Desi’s marriage as he’s been linked to multiple women and having countless affairs. As we see what might be a crumbling partnership, Sorkin flashes back to their beginning, showcasing both Lucy and Desi before the show, where Lucy is proving herself to be a serious actress and Desi is working night and day in the nightclub. With all this time working, they only get to mere moments in the morning to be with each other, thus Lucy ends up lonely in their house at night. She’s always wanted a home and a husband to be there for her, but with Desi working all the time, this doesn’t become a reality till they start making the show but she is fearful of losing it. This is why she is overanalyzing everything on the show, making sure everything is prim and proper, so things can stay the same and she never loses what is hers.
At this point, you can feel as if this movie is going all over the place, but it’s able to balance the past and the present in order to understand the future we all know about Lucille, Desi and the show. The screenplay Sorkin delivers an emotionally layered icon in Lucille Ball, who is manic yet intelligent and smarter than everyone without being overbearing. She’s a genius, and we see how her mind is ahead of its time yet is susceptible to getting her heartbroken by the man that she loves. By doing all this, we get Kidman’s best performance in ages, as she is deliveries as both the on screen character on the iconic show and the vulnerable talent playing this character. Apologies should be made to Kidman, who was judged by many who just saw leaked photos of the actress in the role without seeing the context of her take on the character, which is so much more than a voice and a look, but capturing the humanity of this fascinating comedic icon.
As she is facing her own dilemmas, Desi is fighting to keep her name cleared, as he twists and pulls every string possible to make sure his wife is unscathed. While doing so, he is trying to save his own keck, and not let his secrets out and have his house of cards tumble due to his infidelity. Bardem is charming as Desi and really gives it his all. But he shouldn’t be playing this part given that Bardem is from Spain and not a Latino. While two things can be true, in that he is good in the role and yet someone else should be playing Desi, it speaks to a disappointing result that always faces Hollywood when it comes to diversity, in that studios and creatives talk about it but very few act on it.
J.K Simmons and Nina Arianda in Being the Ricardos
Though it has a massive shortcoming in its lead actor, the supporting players help move this vehicle along, with Oscar-winner J.K Simmons and Tony winner Nina Arianda stealing the show as William Frawley and Vivian Vance, the real life Fred and Alice, who couldn’t stand being around each other and how they were treated on the show by Ball and management. Arianda’s scenes with Kidman are truly madding for Vivian, as she displays why there is a double standard if you aren’t the star as her figure must stay a certain way to counter how Lucy looks and the treatment of actors and crew that are below Lucille and Desi. This is why the writers of the show, performed by Tony Hale, Alia Shawkat, and Jake Lacy, are in the same boat, in that they hate their work being changed by Desi and others and want to write what they think is funny. But the minute one battle is over, the next one begins. Everyone on this show is fighting for something, but this is the life of being successful, in that you have to stand for everything with you feel ownership to, whether it’s your writing job or being a star on a hit TV show who wants to stay married. This ensemble and their themes fit each other and it all takes place on the beautiful sets of the classic comedy show.
While the last ten minutes feel rushed and completely unrealistic, Sorkin is able to make a surprisingly funny, entertaining snapshot of time and an era in our culture that resonates even today. If you want to have someone write about our known figures, you would be hard pressed to find someone who does it better than Sorkin. He’s going for a lot, and the movie is pretty long, but his rat at tat dialogue and pristine acting will keep you interested till the final shot, which is devastating and ultimately satisfying.