“Being the Ricardos”, a capricious drama, is based on real-life events. It is about a very demanding seven days in the life of a celebrity couple – Lucille Ball (played by Nicole Kidman) and Desi Arnaz (played by Javier Bardem).
Written and directed by Aaron Sorkin, his characteristic, hyperverbal exchange is at the forefront. The performance by the cast is stellar and does not let the audience down.
Nicole Kidman Is The Star Of The Movie
Nicole Kidman’s performance as Lucy is brilliant. Her casting had been highly contested since the announcement. However, it works as Lucy is predominantly on the edge and helpless rather than funny. Even though Nicole Kidman never really submerges herself into the role, she sufficiently delivers.
Kidman portrays her whirlwind of emotions with such vulnerability that the audience can’t help but go through it with her.
Javier Bardem does impressive work with Desi and performs decently well in a handful of musical numbers as well.
Sorkin has a lot of space to explore the problems of a celebrity couple and the way they handle them together and independently. However, the movie feels perfunctory and all over the place at times. Too many plotlines inter-woven together may be to blame here. The flow of the movie is constantly interjected with needless and redundant scenes which feel frivolous and distracting.
Sorkin seems to have taken on more than he can handle. The movie is buoyed by the performance of Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem who’ve knocked it out of the park. The film’s sets and costumes are splendid. All in all, the movie is lackluster and fails to encapsulate the magic it wanted to.
