Performance Review: ‘Being the Ricardos’
Fans of the hit ‘50s sitcom should not expect the broad comedy of I Love Lucy when watching Being the Ricardos. Aaron Sorkin wrote and directed the Amazon Studios feature, which tells the story of one crisis-laden production week during the show’s second season. Warning: light spoilers ahead, all of which can be found in the film’s trailer. Keep reading at your own risk.
The said stressful week during which Being the Ricardos unfolds takes place in the McCarthy Era and includes a public accusation that Lucille Ball — the trailblazing actor behind the sitcom’s titular character — is a communist. On top of this, her real-life husband Desi Arnaz — Ricky Ricardo on I Love Lucy — is in the papers for allegedly cheating on Ball. There’s a third complication unveiled that we won’t spoil, but suffice it to say that Sorkin expertly raises the stakes by crunching actual events into one week for the purposes of the film.
Now that you have the premise, let’s talk about the casting. When it initially came out that Australian actor Nicole Kidman was slated to play Ball, there was backlash. The most emphatic opinion shared by critics seemed to be that Kidman didn’t resemble the comedienne enough to play her. Sorkin told The Hollywood Reporter that finding an actor who looked just like Ball wasn’t a priority since he wanted to show a side of her that wasn’t allowed on TV at the time.
Kidman certainly delivers in that area, whether the character is seducing her co-star or dropping the F-bomb with aplomb. A quote widely attributed to Ball reads: “I’m not funny — what I am is brave.” And brave she was, challenging the norms of television in the ‘50s. There are some flashbacks in Being the Ricardos that break up its five-day structure, and in one such scene, Kidman’s Ball takes on a room full of CBS bigwigs. She’s the only woman at the literal table and stands firm against their views that American audiences wouldn’t embrace watching her Cuban husband on TV, giving the ultimatum that she wouldn’t do a series for CBS unless Arnaz starred as her on-screen husband.
We already knew that Kidman could do drama. From her first Oscar win for Baz Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge! to her most recent one for Garth Davis’ Lion, the well-accoladed thespian has delivered a number of impressive dramatic performances throughout her career. Her work in Being the Ricardos is no exception. Whether it’s expertly navigating the “Sorkinese” dialogue or doing more with one wordless scene in the rain than many could do with a full monologue, Kidman gives us the heart and soul of a woman you never saw on I Love Lucy. She also precisely executes the few recreation scenes sprinkled throughout the film, such as the iconic grape-stomping shtick in the “Lucy’s Italian Movie” episode. When we see her performing as Lucy, Kidman pulls off the movement style of an actor known for her physical comedy, along with the high-pitched voice that accompanies the character. But its offscreen — where the bulk of the film resides — that the actor reveals Ball’s strength, even in the midst of threats to her career and marriage.
Speaking of said marriage, we need to talk about the actor who portrays Arnaz in Being the Ricardos. The casting of Javier Bardem in the role was also met with backlash due to his country of origin being Spain rather than Cuba like Arnaz. Sorkin defended the choice in the same interview with The Hollywood Reporter, referencing approval from Amazon’s Latinx casting consultant and from the daughter of Ball and Arnaz.
Separately, we had questions about Bardem playing the actor behind the effusive Ricky. The Spanish thespian won his Oscar for playing a psychopathic hitman in the Coen brothers’ No Country for Old Men, and his stacked resume is full of intense characters that are a far cry from the exasperated husband found in I Love Lucy. Bardem does manage to embody some of Ricky’s traits — there’s a scene where he’s singing and playing the conga at a nightclub in Being the Ricardos that captures the total commitment and vigor of Ricky performing “Babalu” in I Love Lucy. But it’s the behind-the-scenes look at the trailblazing showrunner — Sorkin’s script suggests Arnaz really should’ve been given an executive producer credit on the show — in which Bardem truly shines. He plays the confidence and swagger of a character who goes above the heads of network execs to get things done. And while Bardem’s Arnaz may do things that make us want to like him less, the Oscar-winner’s layered and vulnerable performance will leave you walking away still thinking about the character.
J.K. Simmons portrays William Frawley opposite Nina Arianda as Vivian Vance, the actors who respectively played Fred and Ethel on I Love Lucy. Neither are carbon copies of the people they portray — in line with the overall casting theme — but both Simmons and Arianda deliver powerhouse performances as the onscreen couple that didn’t get along when the cameras stopped rolling. The film’s supporting cast is rounded out with strong work from names like Alia Shawkat, Tony Hale, Jake Lacy, and Clark Gregg.
You can see all these performances and more when Being the Ricardos releases in theaters on December 10 and starts streaming on Prime Video come December 21.
