Being the Ricardos (2021)

[starri]

I don't know how I feel about Nicole Kidman's Lucy make-up, but she's got the voice down cold.

I'm really looking forward to this.

[GHScorpiosRule]

8 minutes ago, starri said:

I don't know how I feel about Nicole Kidman's Lucy make-up, but she's got the voice down cold.

I couldn't disagree more. She sounds like Nicole doing a deeper Nicole Kidman's voice.

I've watched the original I Love Lucy since I was a kid and until stupid ass MeTV took it off the air in January. I've seen multiple interviews. And to me, Nicole being cast is a miscast.

[Guest]

13 hours ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

I couldn't disagree more. She sounds like Nicole doing a deeper Nicole Kidman's voice.

I've watched the original I Love Lucy since I was a kid and until stupid ass MeTV took it off the air in January. I've seen multiple interviews. And to me, Nicole being cast is a miscast.

Yeah. She doesn’t sound like Lucy to me. Maybe worse than that she doesn’t even sound like she using the same voice in different clips. Sometimes I heard Nicole very clearly, sometime a Lucy imitation and others something completely different. 

More than that, I can’t get over Nicole’s plastic face. Lucy was incredibly expressive and Nicole’s face barely moves. I’m so tired of seeing actresses that have that unnatural look around their eyes and cheeks. 

I also have serious doubt about Bardem as Desi. The, “Lucy, I’m home” was way more exaggerated than it really was. 

Edited November 11, 2021 by Guest

[GHScorpiosRule]

4 hours ago, Dani said:

I also have serious doubt about Bardem as Desi. The, “Lucy, I’m home” was way more exaggerated than it really was. 

Yep.

Not only that, Bardem is playing Desi as a stocky and big guy, when Desi was on the thin side.

[LADreamr]

I don't know who *should* be playing Lucy, but it shouldn't be Nicole.  I don't know what's happened to her acting in the past few years, but it's become hard to watch.  I was looking forward to this, so that's disappointing.

[Wiendish Fitch]

6 hours ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

Yep.

Not only that, Bardem is playing Desi as a stocky and big guy, when Desi was on the thin side.

Bardem is just too big and craggy, Desi had a slightly more boyish quality. 

Nina Arianda, the actress who plays Vivian Vance, is 17 years younger than Nicole Kidman. I don't know why this bothers me, but it does. 

[Bastet]

At least it's a better trailer than the first one, which was terrible because she narrated the entire thing while sounding nothing like Lucille Ball; if you're going to hang your hat on narration, the voice better evoke the icon, and throughout she sounded as much like Lucille Ball as any random woman on the street.

This is still only something I'll watch some time when nothing else is on, because I don't have any particular interest in it (I respect Ball's comedic talents and business acumen and liked some of her film performances, but I hate I Love Lucy and don't care about their messy marriage), but this is a better presentation of the film than the first trailer.  

[khyber]

Desi was so much better looking than Bardem.

[Spartan Girl]

Aaron Sorkin thinks I Love Lucy wouldn’t be considered funny today

Excuse the hell out of you?!?! This does not make me feel better about this movie.

[Guest]

21 hours ago, Spartan Girl said:

Aaron Sorkin thinks I Love Lucy wouldn’t be considered funny today

Excuse the hell out of you?!?! This does not make me feel better about this movie.

Nothing about that interview makes me feel better about the movie. That’s a bold take on the one classic sitcom that actually is still funny to modern audiences. You show someone the candy factory scene right now and most people are going to laugh even with zero context.

 I’m particularly irritated by the white guy say having a Spanish actor play a Cuban isn’t demeaning. “We know when we’re being demeaning”. I’m so damn tired of people who have no clear what it means to be a part of a group declaring if that group should be offended. I imagine Twitter is going to rip him to shreds over his entirely unprovoked comment on gay and straight not being actable.

Him referring to Mickey Rooney in Breakfast at Tiffany’s as a silly piece makes me stabby. No, you ass, that was horribly racist. You minimizing it is demeaning. 

Edited November 12, 2021 by Guest

[Ms Blue Jay]

Javier is a great actor... buuuuuuuuuut.....

The less I say about Nicole the better....... everyone will be focusing on that, it's so distracting.  There had to be another actor who could have done this.  Maybe it's not as bad as what happened with "Bridget Jones's Baby", but it's reminding me of that.

I agree, Aaron Sorkin is being really arrogant in that article.  For "The Social Network", they completely whitewashed Eduardo Saverin by casting Andrew Garfield in the part.  That was already seen as a joke 11 years ago.

Edited November 12, 2021 by Ms Blue Jay

[Sarahsmile416]

On 11/11/2021 at 7:43 PM, Spartan Girl said:

Aaron Sorkin thinks I Love Lucy wouldn’t be considered funny today

Excuse the hell out of you?!?! This does not make me feel better about this movie.

Good job promoting your movie…if you want to get fans of I Love Lucy to watch, this ain’t the way to do it…

of course, neither is casting Nicole Kidman as Lucy.  No thank you.  I am still having nightmares about her in that horrible “Bewitched” movie 

[Guest]

4 hours ago, Sarahsmile416 said:

Good job promoting your movie…if you want to get fans of I Love Lucy to watch, this ain’t the way to do it…

of course, neither is casting Nicole Kidman as Lucy.  No thank you.  I am still having nightmares about her in that horrible “Bewitched” movie 

Don’t remind me. That is literally the only movie I have walked out of a theater in the middle of. 

[benteen]

7 hours ago, Sarahsmile416 said:

Good job promoting your movie…if you want to get fans of I Love Lucy to watch, this ain’t the way to do it…

of course, neither is casting Nicole Kidman as Lucy.  No thank you.  I am still having nightmares about her in that horrible “Bewitched” movie 

What do you expect from Aston Sorkin?  He's another "delicate genius" like David Chase and Matthew Weiner...

[GHScorpiosRule]

10 hours ago, benteen said:

What do you expect from Aston Sorkin?  He's another "delicate genius" like David Chase and Matthew Weiner...

What I found mind boggling is that Lucie Arnaz actually approved the casting of Nicole. I don't know if Desi, Junior also put his "seal of approval" on it or not.

I know the 2003 television movie Before the Laughter with Frances Fisher and marble mouth stutterbarker Maurice Bernard as Lucille and Desi was horrid, as it made Lucille look like a clingy, needy, insecure mess, and showed none of her business acumen, or her successful rise, but this casting for the main roles? Give me a fucking break.

Nicole doesn't have nearly the talent that Frances Fisher does. At least Frances's voice had that gravelly sound that real life Lucille did.

[SunnyBeBe]

Nicole is such a real talent.  As are the actors who make up the rest of the cast.  I’m really looking forward to this one.  The buzz about it is very positive.  

[chediavolo]

Nicole Kidman again! That face! think she is a pretty good actress but I have a hard time watching her in anything lately. I can’t concentrate, all I can think about is how plastic she looks. She’s actually starting to look Like a scary ass old  porcelain doll.😳. Bad casting. Agree with those that said Debra Messing should have been cast.
Javier Bardem is way too burly. 

[annzeepark914]

Does Nicole always speak in such a soft, hushed way? I couldn't watch Bewitched more than 20 minutes because of that "voice". After watching this trailer, I know I won't be watching it at all. 

[Ms Blue Jay]

Javier looks so huge and domineering in all of the previews.  Is that how Desi was?  I'm too ignorant to know but I'm guessing - no?

[chediavolo]

4 hours ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

Javier looks so huge and domineering in all of the previews.  Is that how Desi was?  I'm too ignorant to know but I'm guessing - no?

Not huge at all. Macho & domineering yes. 

[annzeepark914]

Lucille Ball didn't get that deep voice until she was older. I remember watching the Tonight Show when she was a guest. I hadn't seen her since, probably, her original I Love Lucy show. When she started talking (in a basso profundo voice) with Johnny Carson, I almost jumped out of my skin. 

[GHScorpiosRule]

1 minute ago, annzeepark914 said:

Lucille Ball didn't get that deep voice until she was older. I remember watching the Tonight Show when she was a guest. I hadn't seen her since, probably, her original I Love Lucy show. When she started talking (in a basso profundo voice) with Johnny Carson, I almost jumped out of my skin. 

That was as a result of her years of smoking.

That said, she certainly didn't have a light or high pitched voice during the years she did the show. 

I will never understand Nicole's casting and Lucie Arnaz saying it was perfect casting.

[Guest]

8 hours ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

 

I will never understand Nicole's casting and Lucie Arnaz saying it was perfect casting.

I can only see it as perfect casting in the sense that it is perfect award bait. I fully expect this to be one of those movies that many critics and industry folks will be falling all over themselves to rave about while most of the general public thinks it crap. 

Accuracy and a realistic depiction of Lucy or Desi is irrelevant when they can give Sorkin and Kidman a tongue bath.  Personally, I don’t care how brilliant the performances are if it’s not a brilliant depiction of the actual people and circumstances involved. Otherwise just make a movie about a fictional famous couple. 

Edited December 10, 2021 by Guest

[anna0852]

21 hours ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

I will never understand Nicole's casting and Lucie Arnaz saying it was perfect casting.

Lucie is referring to someone playing her own mother, so she's probably the best assessment. 

[AngieBee1]

Kidman has an approximation of Lucie's actual speaking voice down and it's as if Bardem, Arianda and Simmons weren't even trying to sound like Arnaz, Vance and Frawley. It doesn't detract ot take from the film for me because I am just a casual fan of I LOVE LUCY. For those actually invested in the show and/or Ball and Arnaz I can see them not liking this film.

My main issue is that Sorkin already condenses a timelines in order to have varying events take place in one week then he also adds flashbacks to the genesis of Ball and Arnaz's relationship. I think the film would have been better as a straightforward take on how they met, fell and love and built their legacy or take one event and focus on it. Not throw it all together.

[GHScorpiosRule]

I stumbled upon a youtube video where Lucie Arnaz is giving Sorkin a tongue bath about what a tremendous job he did with this story.

And of course, according to Lucie, Nicole had her mom down pat. Well, Lucille was Lucie's mother, and she would know. I'm just someone who was a fan of her parents and I Love Lucy. But I still can't wrap my brain around the casting of Nicole and her frozen face; especially since Lucille had a very expressive face. Even when she wasn't playing Lucy. Unless it's one of those things where Lucie had to say Nicole did a good job; just like after an author sells their rights to their books to be made into movies, and praise the movie, even if it was nothing like the book, the movies wasn't that good, and casting choices were dubious, at best.

But what I'd like to know is what Desi, Jr has to say.

[Guest]

7 minutes ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

I stumbled upon a youtube video where Lucie Arnaz is giving Sorkin a tongue bath about what a tremendous job he did with this story.

And of course, according to Lucie, Nicole had her mom down pat. Well, Lucille was Lucie's mother, and she would know. I'm just someone who was a fan of her parents and I Love Lucy. But I still can't wrap my brain around the casting of Nicole and her frozen face; especially since Lucille had a very expressive face. Even when she wasn't playing Lucy. Unless it's one of those things where Lucie had to say Nicole did a good job; just like after an author sells their rights to their books to be made into movies, and praise the movie, even if it was nothing like the book, the movies wasn't that good, and casting choices were dubious, at best.

But what I'd like to know is what Desi, Jr has to say.

Truthfully, I often feel like children are not really able to accurately judge who they are parents are. Most kids don’t fully see their parents outside of being mom and dad and have a somewhat distorted image. I found out things just before and after my parents died that shocked me. It wasn’t anything awful but it did not even remotely fit my image of they were. Things that I would have said they would never have done or been interested in. It’s been a decade I still occasionally try to reconcile it and question my image of them. 

[Ms Blue Jay]

Does Nina Arianda not look more like Lucille Ball than Nicole does, or am I nuts?

[Crashcourse]

Nicole Kidman's eyes as Lucy look weird and creepy.  

[chediavolo]

Is this free to view yet? 

[EtheltoTillie]

3 hours ago, chediavolo said:

Is this free to view yet? 

They just put it on Prime today.  I haven't watched yet, though.

[chediavolo]

Watching it now. So far I hate it.🙂

[chediavolo]

Anyone else watch this? 
 

[Laurie4H]

I watched it.  At first I didn’t like it at all. It got better as it went on but I still can’t say I liked it.  I wasn’t bored at least.  I thought Nicole had moments were she captured Lucy.  Epecially her voice in the character of Lucy.  Otherwise I could still hear Nicole in there with certain words.  Javier doesn’t resemble or sound like Desi at all and is too old to play him (as is Nicole).  His acting was good but he just wasn’t Desi to me.  JK Simmons was JK Simmons.  Always amusing but not really Fred.  I thought the actress that played Vivian looked very similar to her and was decent.  Overall it kept my interest but I think it could have been better.  I didn’t like the flashbacks to when they first met.  The dialogue seemed forced.  I also didn’t like how they threw in the grapes scene.  Just didn’t work with the timeline.  

Edited December 22, 2021 by Laurie4H

[Ms Blue Jay]

Watching it now.  She looks soooooooooo weird.

[txhorns79]

On 12/9/2021 at 1:01 PM, annzeepark914 said:

Lucille Ball didn't get that deep voice until she was older. I remember watching the Tonight Show when she was a guest. I hadn't seen her since, probably, her original I Love Lucy show. When she started talking (in a basso profundo voice) with Johnny Carson, I almost jumped out of my skin. 

Yeah, watch clips of her movies from the 1930s, then watch a clip from Here's Lucy in the 70s.  Her voice was significantly damaged by smoking.

The movie was just okay.  The actors are fine, but the story is fairly clumsy and I didn't love the structure of the movie. 

[Mountainair]

Just finished this. As a huge Lucille Ball fan (named my five year old after her) I thought it was ok. I didn’t actually mind Kidman or Bardem’s portrayal here. I think they both are such icons that it’s close to impossible to find actors that will do them justice. 
 

I agree that the structure of the movie left a lot to be desired. The time jumps were confusing. 
 

TCM has a podcast out now called The Plot Thickens and this past season focused on Lucille Ball. Highly recommend giving it a listen! It’s basically this movie in podcast form. 

[hypnotoad]

Quote

TCM has a podcast out now called The Plot Thickens and this past season focused on Lucille Ball. Highly recommend giving it a listen! It’s basically this movie in podcast form. 

I didn't know much about Lucille Ball or Desi Arnez and just loved the podcast. It was really interesting and well told.

I watched the movie and I didn't enjoy the structure of it like others have mentioned. I just found it odd. But I will say I ended up liking all the actors in the roles. It's tough to play such iconic people and I think Kidman and Barden did a good job. No one especially looked like anyone they played but I think they managed to capture who they were playing.

[meowmommy]

I'm 25 minutes into this and already bored, not to mention badly distracted by the miscasting of the two leads.

Frozen face.  Breathy voice when it should be raspy.  Far too old for the main scenes, and desperately too old for the flashbacks.  A sense of always acting, instead of being, Lucy and Desi.

A good biopic should leave you wondering who the actors are, not who the characters are.

Nice to see old pros like Linda Lavin and Ronny Cox, though.

[TattleTeeny]

I guess I’m in the minority — I loved it. I thought Nicole and Javier did good jobs. And I can’t help but love JK Simmons.

As for Desi being lean — and I say this as a person who thinks he was beautiful — I swear that there were times he had no shirt on and was pretty bulky around the middle.

Edited December 23, 2021 by TattleTeeny

[annzeepark914]

Whoa... what's with that bed^^^^. Is that two twin beds pushed together but with separate bedspreads? That's what it looks like to me. I vaguely recall the I Love Lucy show had twin beds (didn't they all, in the 50's?). 

[Guest]

2 hours ago, annzeepark914 said:

Whoa... what's with that bed^^^^. Is that two twin beds pushed together but with separate bedspreads? That's what it looks like to me. I vaguely recall the I Love Lucy show had twin beds (didn't they all, in the 50's?). 

That’s exactly what it is. It’s was like that in the beginning of the show. Then after Little Ricky was born CBS didn’t want to suggest the couple was having sex and moved the twin beds apart. 

[Suzn]

What an unpleasant movie!  It just seemed pointless and really didn't illuminate these characters.  I thought it was massive miscasting for both Lucy and Desi.  I never once felt that the actors disappeared into the roles.  I kept watching Nicole Kidman's face for any sign of life or natural movement and her voice was all over the place and never once sounded like Lucille Ball.

Something I wondered about, did Lucille Ball really say fuck constantly?  I never read anything about her to indicate her using that kind of language so freely and I would sort of expect that it would have been written about. You can't read anything about Carole Lombard without it mentioned that she cussed like a sailor.  I'm not offended, it is my daily language, but wonder if is an accurate portrayal.

Something else that struck me as possibly anachronistic was the writer talking to Lucy about her character being "infantilized".  True point, but would be discussed that way at the time? 

[TattleTeeny]

It’s so weird—I have lots of recollections of Lucy talking outside of the show and I feel like NK did a really good job. Lucille’s voice wasn’t the same as Lucy’s and, while she was funny in real life, it was a dryer and more sarcastic style than Lucy Ricardo. 

“Infantilize” didn’t bug me but using “gaslight” as a verb made me wonder. I’ve never seen the movie, but know the premise, so I have no frame of reference as to whether it became a common term back then like it is now.

[Guest]

On 12/23/2021 at 12:34 PM, TattleTeeny said:

“Infantilize” didn’t bug me but using “gaslight” as a verb made me wonder. I’ve never seen the movie, but know the premise, so I have no frame of reference as to whether it became a common term back then like it is now.

I had the same reaction to gaslight. I have seen the movie and the term definitely wasn’t used as a verb. 

This has become an internet debate and Snopes has weighed in. Their conclusion is that she could have said something about “Gaslight treatment” which did appear in an episode of The Lucy Show but it is very unlikely she would have used it the way the movie did. 

Edited December 25, 2021 by Guest

[StatisticalOutlier]

I was going to ask, "Did she at least use the term correctly?"  But then I read the Snopes article and she didn't.  Sigh.  She was asking Desi if he was cheating on her, and he said he wasn't.  She said, "When you stay out all night, you're on the boat playing cards?"  He says yes.  That's lying.  It's not gaslighting.

Further down in the article, it says there was an episode of I Love Lucy where "Arnaz plays an elaborate prank on Ball, convincing her that she had not, in fact, met the French actor Charles Boyer, in a Paris restaurant."  That's gaslighting.

 

[Guest]

36 minutes ago, StatisticalOutlier said:

 

I was going to ask, "Did she at least use the term correctly?"  But then I read the Snopes article and she didn't.  Sigh.  She was asking Desi if he was cheating on her, and he said he wasn't.  She said, "When you stay out all night, you're on the boat playing cards?"  He says yes.  That's lying.  It's not gaslighting.

 

I think it was referring to the, “What’s going on with you, honey?” as gaslighting rather than just the lie. Turning a reasonable accusation around and suggesting something is wrong with the other person for even asking is gaslighting. 

Edited December 24, 2021 by Guest

[StatisticalOutlier]

Yeah, I noticed that, but since it didn't go anywhere, I didn't think it rose to gaslighting.

 

[Guest]

9 minutes ago, StatisticalOutlier said:

Yeah, I noticed that, but since it didn't go anywhere, I didn't think it rose to gaslighting.

 

If you immediately call out something as gaslighting, is it still gaslighting? Attempted gaslighting? Gaslighting interruptus?

[EtheltoTillie]

Another anachronism was the use of the term showrunner. That’s a pretty recent invention. 
I thought the movie was so Sorkinized. The preachy speeches. The long takes with the characters walking and talking.