Being the Ricardos - 7/10
I expected to hate this. Ive never found Kidman particularly convincing and with her as the lead i didnt have much to rest my hat on. She doesnt light up the stage but she doesnt get in the way of the picture.
Kidman aside i love Sorkins writing so i watching this was inevitable i suppose. Its good. Not his best but its good. Communism is at the core of the plot and knowing Sorkins politics i expected a very different picture than the one i got.
The 1st 2 acts i was getting what i expected. Subtly telling us communism isnt so bad. Lucy repeatedly justifying it with "i support workers." But the film wasnt lecturing me. The focus was on how the accusations affected them not the politics itself. I can respect that.
The 3rd act however surprised me. Desi, American military veteran and communist survivor, set her straight. Unapologetically and with no rebuttal there or later in the film. In 2021 in a Hollywood picture he openly and unequivocally condemns communism. I didnt know Sorkin had it in him. Its a brief exchange, it doesnt grand stand or brow beat the audience, but its there. I appreciated that.
Sorkin does have a knack in his dialog to organically weave conversation with politics in human way and thats present here in the A plot.
The B plot is odd and a bit disjointed. All the tension is in the A plot. Cutting away to the B plot, which is focused on the couples young love in the form of flash backs, often sees the films pace come to a hault. These scenes arent bad and theyre integral to the climax but it does feel out of place, even though savy movie goers know this will boomerang around.
There's also the issue with the timeline of the climax of the film not matching the inquisition..but whatever.
Still i think the film works even with the glaring issue. Largely thanks to how good the cast is. Jarvier Bardem, while not a career high, is excellent here and his singing voice is alarmingly good. JK Simmons steals every single scene he's in. I could go on.
All in all its not a bad picture or a bad script. Its solid. If you're interested in the premise i think give it a watch. Its the freshest take on McCarthyism since the 60s...mostly because its been the exact same take from Hollywood since the 60s but still. If you like Sorkin give it a go. If not give it a pass.