Being the Ricardos (2021)

[Lady Whistleup]

On 12/23/2021 at 1:31 PM, Suzn said:

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.

I don't know if she swore like a sailor but I do know she was considered tough as nails to work for and a very demanding boss. I think that was what they were trying to portray.

If anyone likes Luci and Desi, here's a home video they made towards the end of Desi's life.

I think you could see that despite their ups and downs, there was genuine affection between them.

[Nidratime]

Ah, that's a real precious little film of them as grandparents.

Just watched this movie tonight and I was okay with the structure of the film but I did think the actors were miscast. The leads were just too old for the roles. I would've preferred lesser known actors who fit the characters better in terms of age and ability to pull off a reasonable impression. For one thing, although Kidman captured Lucille Ball's seriousness behind the scenes, she was not as good pulling off the comedic bits. As she kept stating, Lucy was a physical comedic actress and that included her face, which she would also manipulate. Bardem looked more like Desi as an older man, but he was still way too hulking a figure, while Desi was smaller. I was never able to lose myself in the movie because I was always seeing the acting rather than losing myself in the story. Also, William Frawley was heavier than J.K. Simmons. The actress they had play Vivian Vance looked like she was a modern 2021 woman stuck in a movie about the past.

[EtheltoTillie]

On 12/24/2021 at 1:38 PM, 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.

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.

 

Especially since Boyer was in the Gaslight movie, to state the obvious, in case people don't know.  I recall the term "gaslight treatment" being used when I was a kid in reference to the movie, to represent any kind of similar activity--honey, what do you mean you see lipstick on my shirt?  There's nothing there.  It's a form of lying.  Turning it into a verb I think of starting only in the last ten years. 

10 hours ago, Nidratime said:

, William Frawley was heavier than J.K. Simmons. The actress they had play Vivian Vance looked like she was a modern 2021 woman stuck in a movie about the past.

They gave J.K. Simmons a padded suit, but he still didn't look as heavy as Frawley, and his face was too thin.  There were moments when I felt that Nina Arianda was nailing Vivian Vance's facial expressions, but not the voice.

Edited December 26, 2021 by GussieK

[rmontro]

8 hours ago, GussieK said:

There were moments when I felt that Nina Arianda was nailing Vivian Vance's facial expressions, but not the voice.

I haven't seen this, but the one thing that jumped out at me from watching the trailer was the actress who played Vivian Vance.  I wouldn't say she looked dead on, but close to it.  You immediately knew who she was supposed to be.  Looking forward to getting a chance to watch this.

[Lady Whistleup]

Watched this. I didn't think it worked. For one, Kidman is many things but she's not funny. Lucille Ball even when she wasn't "Lucy" had a very elastic face and vivid facial expressions that made her funny. 

The other thing is Nicole Kidman exudes a kind of chilly, goddess-like aura. Lucy was always down-to-earth. 

Edited December 26, 2021 by Lady Whistleup

[Ms Blue Jay]

On 12/23/2021 at 3:34 PM, TattleTeeny said:

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.

People online are discussing this and I think the answer is a resounding NO.

I first heard of the term in a 2011 article and forwarded it to all my friends.  Obviously some people had heard of it earlier, but I think the consensus is that it was never used as a verb back in the time of this movie.

 

Edited December 27, 2021 by Ms Blue Jay

[Ms Blue Jay]

On 12/24/2021 at 1:38 PM, StatisticalOutlier said:

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.

And Charles Boyer starred in "Gaslight" (1944)!  LOL!

[Quickbeam]

Just watched this. I can see why Luci Arnaz was upset that she couldn’t cast Cate Blanchett….it would have worked better. Bardem was just too old but he did a nice job with the voice. I thought Simmons did a great job with Frawley even being definitely not a close physical match.

I’m in my 60s so this TV show was in my weave. I remember reading that Vivian Vance was forced to weigh 10# more than Lucy. It did rankle her that she was so much younger than Frawley…..they did not get along. 

Desi was responsible for hiring Frawley who was a legendary fall down drunk. He did promise to never work drunk and by all accounts that was true. He reportedly tore the script apart to only have his lines. 

[Fool to cry]

Okay I'm pretty sure this lady doesn't know what a dominatrix is! Thinking about it though what's the safe word the Ricardos would use? "Babaloo?"

 

 

[Spartan Girl]

On 12/25/2021 at 1:01 AM, Lady Whistleup said:

I think you could see that despite their ups and downs, there was genuine affection between them.

 

On 12/25/2021 at 11:55 PM, Nidratime said:

Ah, that's a real precious little film of them as grandparents.

Indeed. The fact is Lucille and Desi fell hard for each other, but love and fierce passion don’t always lead to lasting happiness. Lucie Arnaz often says in interviews that things were better between them after the divorce once the pressure and drama of their marriage was over. Still, that video of them with their grandkid made me verkempt. You can almost pretend it was Lucy and Ricky as an old married couple.

Regarding the movie, the fact is there was only ONE Lucille Ball. She is irreplaceable. No other actress could ever do her justice, not Nicole, not Debra Messing, nobody. 

Edited December 27, 2021 by Spartan Girl

[SunnyBeBe]

I had high hopes for this film, but it didn’t appeal to me at all. I’m a huge fan of Nicole Kidman and that didn’t matter.  For me it wasn’t the appearance of her and her co-star  or her voice….it was writing.  I never got interested.  I tried too.  I lasted about 15 minutes and had no desire to see more.  Man……what a disappointment.   To me, Nicole did not seem comfortable in the role.  
 

I really like the actors who played Ethel (Nina Arianda) and Fred (William Frawley) They are two of my favorites.  Arianda has been shining in her role on Goliath the series, if anyone is interested.  

[truthaboutluv]

On 12/22/2021 at 10:33 PM, TattleTeeny said:

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.

I'll happily be in that minority with you. I don't know if the fact that I avoided all the pre-release reactions and assumptions and overall conversations helped. I knew some had feelings over the casting choices when it was first announced but I paid little attention to anything else about the film until I sat to watch it with completely unbiased eyes.

Another full disclosure, one that I imagine may be sacrilegious to some, I've never had some great reverence for I Love Lucy. Was it a good show - sure. I respected it more for the significant social barriers it broke, like the first show to have a white American woman married to a Cuban-American man, being the first to have a character have a baby on the show and how the woman was viewed as THE main attraction of a show versus being a supporting character to a man. 

But in general, I've never thought the show was that funny. And I know some were pissed at Sorkin's comment, and no question Aaron Sorkin is an ass in many ways but I understand what he was saying and don't entirely disagree. The fact is, a lot of great shows were a product of their time. That's not to take anything away from them but just stating a realistic fact.

Carol Burnett, in her inaugural Carol Burnett Award speech at the Golden Globes said that she didn't think she'd have had the success she did today doing the comedy she did back then. It just wouldn't resonate the same. Let's go back to an even more recent show. How many people now talk about re-watching Friends today and realizing it maybe wasn't as great as it was made out to be back then. The fact is, different social climate, ideologies, etc. do play a part in how the masses respond to things. 

Now to the film - I loved it. First of all, I loved that they narrowed the focus to that one pivotal week in the show's and Lucy and Desi's life, as opposed to just doing another run of the mill, paint by numbers biopic. Again, maybe because I wasn't a huge I Love Lucy fanatic, so I may be alone again on this, but I knew nothing of that Communism scandal. So it was fascinating to watch and again, remembering how times change and the political and social factors that were at play at the time. I loved the emphasis on how talented Desi was in terms of his instincts about the show and production (I mean how right did he turn out to be about making Lucy pregnant on the show). I definitely believe that for a long time many didn't know that and saw Lucy as the entire brains behind the operation. 

J.K. Simmons and Nina Arianda were perfection in their supporting roles. I was as interested in everything happening with them as I was with Desi and Lucy. Honestly, the entire cast delivered brilliantly in my opinion. From the female staff writer, executive producer and even the poor director that Lucy really hated. I liked the emphasis on all of these life altering things occurring in Lucy's life - possible Hollywood blackballing, suspecting Desi of cheating, that's clearly causing her to crack up a bit but at the end of the day, "the show must go on". 

Edited December 28, 2021 by truthaboutluv

[Hava]

On 12/25/2021 at 8:55 PM, Nidratime said:

For one thing, although Kidman captured Lucille Ball's seriousness behind the scenes, she was not as good pulling off the comedic bits.

That's exactly my problem with the movie. Nicole Kidman as Lucy Ricardo did not work. She was too exaggerated and over-the-top, especially with her voice and expressions. It was like a caricature. 

[TattleTeeny]

Yeah, I thought she was much more effective as Lucille Ball than as Lucy. But she was good enough, I guess, in those parts and I did think it was fun to see some of the show’s scenes re-created.

[GHScorpiosRule]

Well, I am a fan of the original show; and of Lucille Ball herself. I grew up watching I Love Lucy and think it's a timeless show that is still funny and that still makes me laugh when I watch the show.

And I did know that Desi had a hand in the success of the show--behind the camera. And for other shows. I didn't know, however, that it was his idea for Lucy to get pregnant and give birth. He was brilliant. I've said it repeatedly in the show's thread, but that final scene when Lucy tells Ricky that they're having a baby? No one will ever convince me it wasn't Lucille and Desi's emotions the audience saw. Always gets to me.

And Lucille credited Desi a lot; and he also said that if not for Lucille...they both still loved each other after they split--based on the interviews they both gave over the years.

So no, I have no interest in watching this. Maybe I would have had they cast someone unknown and whose face could actually move.

[Crs97]

I am about halfway through and am loving this movie!  I grew up on I Love Lucy reruns (every weekday at noon in the 70’s) so adored the show, but of course they couldn’t remake it today - Lucy having to beg her husband for spending money or knowing her place as a housewife and nothing more; remember when Lucy gets hit with a book and the Mertzes think Desi gave her the black eye and it’s played for laughs?  I can watch and still laugh while rolling my eyes at the dated parts.

My love for the show in no way diminishes my love for this movie so far.  They don’t look like their counterparts, but I don’t want mimicry.  I get their essences, which approximate the oral histories I’ve seen and read about the show.  They have always said Lucille was a demanding taskmaster who knew her stuff and always worked harder than everyone else: there was a story of her once saying a light was off by 1/8 inch and being condescended to until she barked, “measure it.” They did to find she was absolutely correct and could tell it by sight.  I’ve also always read that Desi was brilliant behind the scenes and (maybe this story shows up in the second half of the movie) was so respected and feared that when TPTB balked about writing in her pregnancy Desi responded in such a way that one executive telegrammed to another “Don’t F— with the Cuban!”

In terms of their later years, I think of Desi dying right before her Kennedy Center Honors.  They read the speech he planned to give that night; it ended “I Love Lucy was never just a title.”  She was so clearly moved.  Not to take away from their second spouses, but I don’t think their love for each other ended; they just couldn’t be married to each other anymore.

It probably helps that I continue to love Sorkin’s writing, but I really like how this film is shot so far.  I love the cuts to the older staff reminiscing as well as seeing Lucille imagine how the scenes will play out as they are discussed by the writing staff.  I was sorry to get pulled away from it and can’t wait to finish!

[Paws]

Just watched it and I thought the acting was good overall, but why oh why was Marc Anthony not cast as Desi? He can sing better and is 10000 times more handsome and looks so much more like Desi. Maybe he couldn’t do  a Cuban accent? The acting for the role didn’t seem so demanding that it had to be Bardem. 
 

 

[EtheltoTillie]

22 hours ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

, but that final scene when Lucy tells Ricky that they're having a baby? No one will ever convince me it wasn't Lucille and Desi's emotions the audience saw. Always gets to me.

So true!  I was thinking of that wonderful scene while watching this blah movie. 
My favorite episode is Lucy meets William Holden. Since Nicole Kidman famously wore a rubber nose in The Hours, maybe she could have essayed this comic masterpiece—not!

[GHScorpiosRule]

2 hours ago, GussieK said:

My favorite episode is Lucy meets William Holden. Since Nicole Kidman famously wore a rubber nose in The Hours, maybe she could have essayed this comic masterpiece—not!

That is Number one in my top five! I always laugh so hard my tummy aches. Part of it is Desi/Ricky's bug-eyed expression when Lucy twists the nose and William's ew! scared expression. Of course the next one is the Vitameatavegimen, and third is when Lucy and Ricky do the Tango while Lucy has all those EGGS hidden under her shirt and they all smash.

[EtheltoTillie]

6 minutes ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

That is Number one in my top five! I always laugh so hard my tummy aches. Part of it is Desi/Ricky's bug-eyed expression when Lucy twists the nose and William's ew! scared expression. Of course the next one is the Vitameatavegimen, and third is when Lucy and Ricky do the Tango while Lucy has all those EGGS hidden under her shirt and they all smash.

Oh, so glad to find another connoisseur!  The William Holden episode is just a masterpiece, from the moment they go to the restaurant and Ethel cuts the spaghetti with scissors, and Lucy stares at Holden over the banquette.  Then it just escalates.  It never fails to elicit absolutely hysterical laughter from me.  

I agree with your episode choices too.   My other top faves are when the fearsome foursome visits Ethel's childhood home in Albuquerque.  That immediately precedes the William Holden episode.  You can't beat the antics of Fred, Ricky and Lucy behind Ethel's pretentious singing of her hometown crowd pleasers:  Shortnin' Bread and My Hero, from The Chocolate Soldier.  You can tell I've watched these too many times!

Another one that makes me laugh hysterically is The Golf Game with Jimmy Demaret.  This is a master class in physical comedy.  Ricky's eyes really bug out in this one too.  Three giant steps . . .

I appreciated how the movie captured Lucy's attention to detail and how they rewrote and practiced the episodes to refine them until they were right.

[GHScorpiosRule]

1 hour ago, GussieK said:

Oh, so glad to find another connoisseur!

There is an I Love Lucy thread on this site. Come on over!

[Spartan Girl]

Y’all are making me nostalgic. Ricky’s exasperated face at Lucy’s antics were a masterpiece of comedy.

[GHScorpiosRule]

2 minutes ago, Spartan Girl said:

Y’all are making me nostalgic. Ricky’s exasperated face at Lucy’s antics were a masterpiece of comedy.

You'd think with a movie about them just released, that stupidass MeTV would bring the show back. But nooooo.....

BASTARDS.

[Spartan Girl]

1 minute ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

You'd think with a movie about them just released, that stupidass MeTV would bring the show back. But nooooo.....

BASTARDS.

Ugh I know!!!! But I got the DVDs at home!

[GHScorpiosRule]

3 minutes ago, Spartan Girl said:

Ugh I know!!!! But I got the DVDs at home!

Same. But sometimes, it's just not the same! And I'm NOT getting Paramount+ because it's streaming there.

[Lady Whistleup]

This is one of my favorite I Love Lucy bits and showed Lucille's gift for mimcry:

as for Luci and Desi, I think they did love each other. But it's hard to remain married to an alcoholic, womanizing gambler.

Look at her crying when they read Desi's letter. 

[Spartan Girl]

6 hours ago, Lady Whistleup said:

as for Luci and Desi, I think they did love each other. But it's hard to remain married to an alcoholic, womanizing gambler

Of course. The problem is that from everything I’ve seen and heard about this movie is that it spends too much time on the dysfunctional aspects of their relationship and not enough on what brought and kept them together. I get that Lucie Arnaz and Sorkin wanted a warts and all look at them, but don’t JUST show the warts. Otherwise it just comes off as one-sided and exploitative. That’s the same mistake that garbage John Belushi biopic Wired made.

[truthaboutluv]

3 hours ago, Spartan Girl said:

Of course. The problem is that from everything I’ve seen and heard about this movie is that it spends too much time on the dysfunctional aspects of their relationship and not enough on what brought and kept them together. I get that Lucie Arnaz and Sorkin wanted a warts and all look at them, but don’t JUST show the warts. Otherwise it just comes off as one-sided and exploitative. That’s the same mistake that garbage John Belushi biopic Wired made.

Interesting because I didn't feel like the film spent an inordinate amount of time on the dysfunctional aspects of Lucy and Desi's relationship. Yes, there was the secondary storyline of the tabloid headline about his cheating but the larger story was one, the Communism saga and two, Lucy's trying to keep it all together while so much of her life seemed to be falling apart that week. 

That said, despite Desi's maybe cheating, I thought the film did show just how well he and Lucy worked together, how much they complimented each other, how much respect they had for each other's talent and just how much of a team they were in many ways. I didn't come away feeling like the film only showed the ugly parts of the relationship. YMMV. 

[Lady Whistleup]

5 hours ago, Spartan Girl said:

Of course. The problem is that from everything I’ve seen and heard about this movie is that it spends too much time on the dysfunctional aspects of their relationship and not enough on what brought and kept them together. I get that Lucie Arnaz and Sorkin wanted a warts and all look at them, but don’t JUST show the warts. Otherwise it just comes off as one-sided and exploitative. That’s the same mistake that garbage John Belushi biopic Wired made.

Well I saw the movie and I did not really think they focused that much on the dysfunction. I thought the movie didn't work for a few reasons, but they showed that Luci and Desi were a strong team and Lucie was a stern taskmaster behind the scenes.

The movie (IMO) didn't work because Nicole Kidman simply lacks the vivacity and humor to be believable as Lucy. 

[Avabelle]

I really liked this but I’m someone who although had heard of I love Lucy has never seen it. The only distraction for me was that I knew Bardem and Kidman were far too old to be playing the characters - especially in the flashback scenes.

Did Lucie really go all A Beautiful Mind when she was reading the I Love Lucy scripts.

[truthaboutluv]

3 hours ago, Avabelle said:

Did Lucie really go all A Beautiful Mind when she was reading the I Love Lucy scripts.

I don't think that was meant to be taken literally but more to indicate how Lucy had great instincts about the show in terms of the staging and setups, particularly for the jokes. 

[GHScorpiosRule]

On 12/31/2021 at 12:52 AM, Lady Whistleup said:

This is one of my favorite I Love Lucy bits and showed Lucille's gift for mimcry:

as for Luci and Desi, I think they did love each other. But it's hard to remain married to an alcoholic, womanizing gambler.

Look at her crying when they read Desi's letter. 

Well that clip was of Valerie Harper, Pam Dawber, and Bea Arthur singing to the theme of  I Love Lucy.

I’m now going to hunt down the reading of Desi’s letter.

[GHScorpiosRule]

Here’s the full clip. Robert Stack reading the letter starts at about the 13 minute mark, then the homage from Bea, Valerie, and Pam.

 

[Suzn]

I was looking for information about Lucille Ball and found a documentary on YouTube.  The resolution of the Communist accusations was very different than presented in the movie,  The documentary played the speech Desi gave the audience, who had already seen the headlines about Lucy, that there was nothing red about her but her hair, "which wasn't legitimate either".  There was no call to Hoover.  I thought it didn't come off well and wasn't surprised that it was made up.

[Inquisitionist]

On 11/11/2021 at 9:52 AM, LADreamr said:

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.

I was surprised to learn Cate Blanchett was originally attached to the project (like 5 or 6 years ago), but eventually had to drop out.

On 11/11/2021 at 6:36 PM, khyber said:

Desi was so much better looking than Bardem.

Neither is my type, but while Arnaz is considered more conventionally attractive than Bardem, I thought the latter captured his essence very well.  Arnaz's family lived in Cuba for generations, but was Spanish in origin, no?  Kidman and Blanchett are Australian, for crying out loud.  😄

On 12/16/2021 at 10:59 AM, GHScorpiosRule said:

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

He seems to keep a very low profile these days. 

On 12/24/2021 at 4:12 PM, GussieK said:

I thought the movie was so Sorkinized. The preachy speeches. The long takes with the characters walking and talking. 

I hadn't known it was a Sorkin film, but as soon as I saw his name at the end, so much about it made more sense!

On 12/30/2021 at 6:05 AM, GussieK said:

My favorite episode is Lucy meets William Holden. 

I have had that one on my DVR for years.  Just love it!

I went into the movie with low expectations, and ended up enjoying it more than I had expected to.  It certainly had problems, but it held my attention and had occasional flashes of quality.  I agree that Sorkin tried to cover too much.  

Nice to see the little Arrested Development reunion of Tony Hale and Alia Shawkat!

[Shannon L.]

I just saw this and while I really enjoyed it (it's one of my favorite genres and I do like Aaron Sorkin's shows), I did have a problem with the casting.  Oddly enough, though, while in the beginning, I was more willing to accept Nicole Kidman as Lucille Ball (although, still wasn't sold on the choice when I heard it) and thought Javier Bardem would really be a problem, it turns out that I enjoyed his performance more than hers.  I do agree that they were both too old and I agree that Nicole was better as Lucille Ball than she was as Lucy Ricardo, but overall I don't think the casting worked, especially Nicole.  I was also really distracted by how skinny Nicole was.  Lucille was not a big woman, but she was definitely a bit bigger than that. 

During one of the scenes, something reminded me of Midge in the Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and it had me wondering:  Does anyone think that Rachel Brosnahan might have been able to pull it off?

I wonder if the conversations about Lucy being infantalized and not very smart really happened?  If not, then I do like how Sorkin wrote it in.  It felt like a natural way to satisfy today's audience instead of shoehorning it in like some movies do. 

Boy, did I laugh at the reactions of the men when they told them that Lucille was pregnant--especially when she said that 12 weeks ago, she fucked her husband. 

 

[TattleTeeny]

On 12/30/2021 at 9:32 AM, GHScorpiosRule said:

That is Number one in my top five! I always laugh so hard my tummy aches. Part of it is Desi/Ricky's bug-eyed expression when Lucy twists the nose and William's ew! scared expression. Of course the next one is the Vitameatavegimen, and third is when Lucy and Ricky do the Tango while Lucy has all those EGGS hidden under her shirt and they all smash.

“Are you unpoopular? Do you pop out at parties?”

One Halloween, I dressed as Lucifer Ricardo. I added devil horns to the Vitameatavegemin outfit, made from stuff I found at Goodwill.

[GHScorpiosRule]

26 minutes ago, TattleTeeny said:

“Are you unpoopular?”

“Well?ARE you?”

😂😂😂😂😂😂🤣

[EtheltoTillie]

16 hours ago, Shannon L. said:

. 

During one of the scenes, something reminded me of Midge in the Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and it had me wondering:  Does anyone think that Rachel Brosnahan might have been able to pull it off

You know that’s not crazy!  I hadn’t even thought of her. But of course she wouldn’t have been available.

I can’t say I love the idea of Cate Blanchett in the role. She’s an excellent actress but I don’t think of her as a physical comic. Why did she leave the role?  I can’t find any real info. 

Edited January 2, 2022 by GussieK

[GreekGeek]

Weirdly, I thought Kidman was most convincing as Lucy in the black and white re-creations of the show. At least that's when the physical resemblance to Ball was strongest. I agree that Bardem looked too old and craggy, but he was fairly convincing when there weren't close-ups of him. His performance of "Babalu" was his best scene, I thought. I wished they had given JK Simmons some cheek padding to make him look more like Frawley. Of the four, Nina Arianda looked the most like her real life counterpart.

My problem was that I was much more interested in the other behind-the-scenes subplots than in the "Is Lucy a Communist?" kerfluffle: how Lucy got TPTB to allow Desi to play her husband, how the pregnancy storyline was handled, Vivian Vance's unhappiness with the "fat Ethel" jokes, even the genesis of the famous grape-stomping scene. Instead, there was a lot of drama over what turned out to be "fake news" and a "nothingburger," to quote a certain politician. Sure, things were scary for a few days, but we know that the show survived. The climactic phone conversation with J. Edgar Hoover was not only fictitious, it was silly: How many people knew what J. Edgar Hoover sounded like? It could have been an actor on the line for all they knew.

[Black Knight]

On 1/2/2022 at 12:08 AM, GussieK said:

Why did she leave the role?  I can’t find any real info. 

Timing. The movie took too long to get to get off the ground and she had other project commitments.

[tennisgurl]

I have pretty mixed feelings about this movie, as there was a lot that worked and a lot that really didn't. I generally like Nicole Kidman and I think she did a good job when she was being Lucille Ball, but she struggled when she was trying to be Lucy. She is in her element when she plays graceful, reserved characters, so she was fine as Lucille the actual person, but her face just isn't expressive enough to play Lucy Ricardo. Weirdly, she actually looked a lot more like Lucy in the black and white parts then she did in the "real world" scenes, but she just doesn't have Lucy's amazing comedic timing. What made Lucy such a legend and created the classic comedy that would go onto influence television comedy for the rest of history was her commitment to physical comedy, silly faces, pratfalls, and Nicole just didn't have that kind of wackiness to her performance as Lucy Ricardo that she needed. It was like half a good performance, she got consummate professional Lucille Ball right, but not Lucy Ricardo, comedic genius. 

Javier Bardem is sort of the opposite, I think he was better when in performance mode as Desi as opposed to Desi in his regular life. Especially when he was leading his band, that was definitely where he shone the brightest. I really like Javier in general and I think he did a really good job, especially when he lost it a bit at Lucy about her checking that fateful box decades ago, but I don't think he was really well cast as Desi. Not only does he look quite a bit older then Desi would be at this time, plus he always had a boyish sort of look, he's so much bigger and more bulky then Desi, who had a very slender build, and that really took me out of the movie. Nicole at least looked like Lucy at times, but the only times I saw Javier as Desi was when he was singing. 

The rest of the cast in general was solid, especially the Arrested Development reunion with Tony Hale and Alia Shawkat was fun, I thought the actress playing Vivien Vance was good I thought, I liked them getting a bit into her frustrations at being stuck playing the "frumpy" best friend, and while JK Simmons is clearly too slim and angular to look like William Frawkly, I will always be happy to have him around. You can really tell that this is a Sorkin project, it has a lot of his trademarks. Lots of speeches, walking and talking, talks about politics and complaining about the network, luckily though a lot of it felt pretty natural. I find this era of television to be really interesting, it was still really in its infancy with people still trying to figure out what television was going to be and what they could or couldn't allow to be broadcast into people's living rooms. Not being allowed to say the word pregnant or acknowledge pregnancy on TV seems so silly now, but at the it really was groundbreaking to have Lucy be pregnant on television, even if they still never actually say the word. A lot of I Love Lucy really does hold up really well today, but my favorite Lucy moment is still when Lucy tells Desi during his show that she's pregnant. They were both absolutely glowing, it gets me every time. 

I thought the structure of the movie was also interesting, I like that they mostly focused on this one week where the communism accusations started, even if they took serious artistic license with the timeline and how things were resolved, and I enjoyed the older writers talking about the show. In general I thought they did a decent job at showing the complicated, passionate relationship that Desi and Lucy had, even if I wish we saw more of their good times, or even ended on explaining more about their lives. Yes they did get a divorce, but from the accounts I have read the divorce actually improved their relationship when the pressure of being a couple was off of them. They continued being business partners and always had a lot of real affection for each other even after the divorce, its more of a bittersweet ending for them then a total downer. 

I read that interview with Sorkin that was posted earlier in the thread, and while he is a talented writer, the guy really needs to get his head out of his own ass more often. Some aspects of I Love Lucy haven't aged well, like with a lot of entertainment from years ago, and that is certainly something to talk about, but the funniest parts of the show are still hilarious. They could show people the chocolate scene or the grapes scene and people would still crack up, the only reason why a modern audience may not find I Love Lucy as funny as the audience in the 50s did is because the show helped to create the modern sitcom as we know it, the things that seem cliché now are only cliché because this was the show that created or codified the entire genre, so its hard to see it with fresh eyes the way that the audience back then would have seen it. 

Edited January 4, 2022 by tennisgurl

[Conotocarious]

9 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

I read that interview with Sorkin that was posted earlier in the thread, and while he is a talented writer, the guy really needs to get his head out of his own ass more often. Some aspects of I Love Lucy haven't aged well, like with a lot of entertainment from years ago, and that is certainly something to talk about, but the funniest parts of the show are still hilarious. They could show people the chocolate scene or the grapes scene and people would still crack up, the only reason why a modern audience may not find I Love Lucy as funny as the audience in the 50s did is because the show helped to create the modern sitcom as we know it, the things that seem cliché now are only cliché because this was the show that created or codified the entire genre, so its hard to see it with fresh eyes the way that the audience back then would have seen it. 

I know I still absolutely lose my shit at Vitameatavegamin.

Edited January 5, 2022 by Conotocarious

[chediavolo]

I have a hard time watching I Love Lucy or anything she is in really anymore after learning what an unlikeable person & absent mother she was.  

[Crs97]

33 minutes ago, chediavolo said:

absent mother

I’ve only seen interviews with her daughter that talk about her being a working mom, not an absent one.   Is that information from Desi Jr?

Edited January 5, 2022 by Crs97

[Conotocarious]

Anyone listening to The Plot Thickens podcast? Their latest season is all about Lucille Ball.

[chediavolo]

8 hours ago, Crs97 said:

I’ve only seen interviews with her daughter that talk about her being a working mom, not an absent one.   Is that information from Desi 

Lucie said several times that they were raised by the nanny, her mother did not teacher them the things that you would normally be taught By a mother, again the nanny  

Just recently straight from her own mouth on a podcast.  I don’t remember which one it was. I was listening to a few  about Lucy recently. 

Edited January 5, 2022 by chediavolo

[EtheltoTillie]

7 hours ago, Conotocarious said:

Anyone listening to The Plot Thickens podcast? Their latest season is all about Lucille Ball.

I started listening a few weeks ago.  I had been really looking forward to it.  But I found myself bored. 

[EtheltoTillie]

This show got me thinking, so I changed my user name.  I am the Primetimer formerly known as GussieK.

[Sarahsmile416]

8 hours ago, Conotocarious said:

Anyone listening to The Plot Thickens podcast? Their latest season is all about Lucille Ball.

Listening to it now, but it definitely drags…I’m on the third episode and I do have to fight to stay interested at times