“Being the Ricardos,” written and directed by Aaron Sorkin, was released to Amazon Prime on Dec. 10, 2021. The movie follows Lucille Ball played by Nicole Kidman and Desi Arnaz played by Javier Bardem as they face an extremely difficult work week. Ball’s career is being threatened and she is having issues within her personal relationship.  

Overall, I really enjoyed this movie. I found that the performances of the cast were very strong. I also really liked the format of the film; it switches between feeling like a biopic and a documentary which was really smart. I felt that this was a great choice because it paralleled Lucille Ball’s life. The film at its core is really about her balancing her onscreen and off-screen lives and combining these two styles puts the viewers in Ball’s shoes.  

The movie did a very good job at displaying the genius of Lucille Ball. There is a scene in which the writers and Ball come up with the iconic scene where she went grape stomping. They did a phenomenal job of making the audience feel like they were in Ball’s head as she was coming up with the idea.  

Another very noteworthy aspect of this movie is the cast. At first, when I found out that Nicole Kidman was cast as Lucille Ball I was a bit shocked. I was surprised that she had been cast instead of someone like Debra Messing, who has comedic talent and a striking resemblance to Lucille Ball. However, I felt that she did a great job portraying Ball, especially with her impression of Ball’s voice. Another stand-out performance was from J.K. Simmons who played William Frawley. The way that Simmons held himself and walked into a room was eerily similar to Frawley. Even though this may seem like a small thing, it really added to the movie and made his performance captivating.  

What I really enjoyed about the movie was how much it was able to discuss the time period that the tv show was produced and created. There were discussions of communism, racism, and sexism. There was so much story perfectly told in the short span of 2 hours. 

Finally, the ending of the movie was my favorite part. Without giving away any spoilers, it felt like a perfect ending; I was able to really feel like the story had been wrapped up but I was still able to reflect and think about what I had just experienced.  

This movie was so important to me because when I was ten years old my grandmother told me about a show that she loved growing up which was called “I Love Lucy.” After, I went home and went to find clips of the show on Youtube. I saw clips of the chocolate factory scene with Ethel and Lucy and the Vitametavegamin commercial. From then on, I became obsessed and tried to find as much as I could about this gem of a tv show.  

I felt like I had grown up watching this show which is why I was a bit taken aback when I found out that they were making a movie about it. I was wary because it was so special to me and I desperately wanted it to be good, so I was relieved when the movie truly delivered. 

I would rate this movie 4.5/5 stars.