Being the Ricardos

 Jethro, you've got some 'splainin to do!

Do I?

OK, I can tell you about why I think the sky is blue, why the Earth is round (and why anyone who disagrees with that doesn't know what they're talking about) and why Being the Ricardos is a good choice on Amazon Prime. But since this is a movie blog, I'll talk about the last thing.

Ayi, yi, yi...

Aaron Sorkin's third film as writer-director chronicles a week in the life of that pioneering TV sitcom, I Love Lucy, and its stars, Lucille Ball (Nicole Kidman) and Desi Arnaz (Javier Bardem). Among other issues, Lucy's past with the Communist Party is front page news, as is Desi's extra-homelife activities; both deal with executives who won't let them write her real-life pregnancy into the show and they try to fine-tune this week's script. Meanwhile, flashbacks show how they met and got I Love Lucy started. Flashforwards show scenes from the show itself (re-enacted by this movie's cast, of course), as well as documentary-style interviews with the head writers. It sounds like a lot to take in but it's actually simple.

Let me start by highlighting the stars. Bardem and Kidman play Desilu rather well. They're a decade older than them during Lucy's second season, but they've got the speech patterns down. They've got great chemistry together; separately, they're charismatic people instead of wooden characters. There are some great highlights of their pre-Lucy days. We see a writer try to egotize Desi, only for Desi to forcibly rebuke him. A later flashback shows how hard Lucy fought to get him cast in the show.  So, it's a bummer when the only piece of epilogue is that they divorced in 1960.

The MVP of the ensemble is JK Simmons, as co-star William Frawley (Fred Mertz), a cantankerous old man who starts the movie by arguing with Vivian Vance (Nina Arianda), playing Ethel, over something. His rivalry with her is mainly played for laughs. His bickering with all is audaciously funny. He gets to show his warmer side as he sympathizes with Desi's plight in Cuba. Vivian, meanwhile, gets a few good scenes to bond with Lucy herself.

Being the Ricardos is a distillation of Desilu's lives. Let's just say everything that happens here did not happen in one week. It's still interesting enough to inspire one to catch a few episodes, especially the one they film here. The last time I saw an episode was a few years ago; that one guest starred Superman! It's especially fun to watch the TV filming week play out. I liked it better on my second time watching it. It's free on Prime, so watch it as many times as you want.