It may be a stretch to connect "I Love Lucy" to "AllWays in Fashion", but laughter is always in fashion and so is Lucille Ball.
"Lucy" was a character I loved and grew up with, but it's taken a while to appreciate the full scope of Lucille Ball as both actress and physical comedienne. She made appearances in 84 Hollywood films over a long career beginning in 1933. "I Love Lucy" premiered on CBS-TV in 1951, and overnight she was a star.
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| The "real" Ricardos |
I remember "I Love Lucy" from about 1953, when I lobbied to stay up past my 8:30 bedtime to watch the show, broadcast on Mondays at 9 PM. As much as I loved Lucy, I didn't follow her to "The "Lucy Show" or "Here's Lucy", the later sitcoms. My Lucy was in black and white with our heroine bravely pratfalling her way through the very unliberated 1950s.
So I had some interest in "Being the Ricardos" on Amazon Prime, about one week in the life of Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, and the cast, writers and producer of the "Lucy Show" in 1953. It was a momentous week. Lucille Ball was accused of being a communist by Walter Winchell at the height of the Red Scare; Lucy announced she was pregnant with their second child; Desi insisted the pregnancy be written in—not out—of the show, and Lucy encountered yet another story about Desi's infidelity.
Interest turned to trepidation when I learned Nicole Kidman was to play Lucy and Javier Bardem would be Desi Arnaz. Well, I like Javier Bardem, and he has shown his prowess as an actor in many roles, so more power to him. But Nicole Kidman? She's so hard to figure out. Nicole the person/celebrity seems as bland as wallpaper paste, but she's proven she can act.
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| Lucy and Not Lucy |
If you don't look at the screen but only listen to her Lucy, it's a terrific portrayal. She's got the voice and makes off-screen Lucy quite believable as hard-working, determined and serious about being funny. Lucy knew what audiences wanted, how comedy worked and whom she had married. Whatever prosthetics or cgi magic was used to turn Nicole Kidman into Lucille Ball fails. She is a Lucy-as-Barbie-doll. Oddly that doesn't take away from thinking hers is an honest yet sympathetic portrayal. Just don't look.
Reviews have said "Being the Ricardos" is busy, and there definitely are many parts and pieces to its quasi-documentary style. They don't all work. At the same time there are clever turns. A rehearsal scene morphs into the black and white broadcast. Familiar bits (the candy factory, the grape stomping) have been meticulously recreated. The actors portraying Vivian Vance and William Frawley are spot on. Javiar Bardem even makes a more attractive Ricky Ricardo than Desi's own Ricky.
After the film I found a compilation of "I Love Lucy" episodes (also on Amazon Prime) and picked one I figured I hadn't seen, "Lucy thinks Ricky is trying to murder her" from 1951. Sitting on the couch, with my cat for company, I laughed out loud. Seventy years later it's fair to say I still love Lucy.