ELLA MCCAY Reviewed by GREG KING
Director: James L Brooks
Stars: Emma Mackey, Jamie Lee Curtis, Woody Harrelson, Spike Fearn, Jack Lowden, Albert Brooks, Julie Kavner, Kumail Nanjaini, Joey Brooks, Rebecca Ferguson, Ayo Ebidiri.
This uneven comedy/political drama is the first film from Oscar winning writer and director James L Brooks (Terms Of Endearment, Broadcast News, etc) in thirteen years. It is set in 2008, during the financial recession.
Bright and ambitious thirty-four-year-old Ella McKay (played by relative newcomer Emma Mackey) is the lieutenant governor of the unnamed state in which the film is set. When her boss Governor Bill Moore (Albert Brooks) is suddenly promoted to a position in the incoming Obama Cabinet, Ella is promoted to the top job. But the idealistic Ella is not exactly popular with her colleagues because of her often long winded speeches and proactive policies.
But it seems that the actions of her husband Ryan (Jack Lowden, from the tv series Slow Horses, etc), who she has known since they were high school sweethearts, seem likely to derail her career and her hopes of gaining support for her key piece of legislation before they can take off. It seems that Ella and Ryan had regular conjugal meetings at lunchtime in a place supposedly only set aside for official government business, and now a journalist has learned of this indiscretion and is blackmailing Ella for greater access. Ryan is angling to gain a position of power in Ella’s administration, but he has a knack for self-sabotage which also threatens Ella.
At the same time Ella is forced to deal with several issues involving her dysfunctional family. Her estranged womanising father Eddie (Woody Harrelson), who divorced Ella’s mother years earlier has suddenly turned up and is trying to atone for his past actions because he wants to settle down with the new woman in his life. After Eddie’s infidelities were revealed when she was just 16, Ella preferred to live with her aunt Helen (Jamie Lee Curtis), who has raised her while she finished school and attended college. Helen has often warned Ella that Ryan is a “ticking time bomb” and not to trust him.
And Ella dotes on her socially awkward younger brother Casey (Spike Fearn, from Aftersun, etc), who is dealing with some mental health issues since he broke up with his potential girlfriend Susan (Ayo Ebidiri, from After The Hunt, etc) and has since refused to leave his house, spending all his time on his screens running on-line betting sites.
All Ella wants to do is help the people of her state, and particularly the women, but it seems as though her dysfunctional family have other ideas.
The drama plays out over the course of three hectic days which will ultimately decide Ella’s future. The unwieldy script is a little unfocussed and messy and crammed with a number of subplots, a couple of which go nowhere interesting. And although there is the occasional gem, and it provides some satirical insights into the political machinations of government as well as dysfunctional family demands, turbulent emotional upheavals, and trying to juggle a balance between the demands of work and family life, the film is tonally uneven. Brooks manages to draw some laughs from the subplots that run through the film, but the film feels longer than it actually is. And in a misstep, he has given us Julie Kavner (the distinctive voice of Marge Simpson from the long running animated series The Simpsons) who plays Estella, Ella’s loyal personal assistant, who also acts as the irascible narrator for the film, giving us some necessary background information and context. But this amount of exposition was completely unnecessary and added little to the overall film.
As usual Brooks draws strong performances from his ensemble cast, although many of the characters are unlikeable. Mackey makes for a strong Ella, but she is somewhat hard to warm to with her driven and earnest nature. Curtis is the best thing here with a feisty and strong performance as the highly strung Aunt Helen who is outspoken, formidable and forthright and doesn’t hold back in expressing her opinion; she imbues the character with warmth and humour and gains the biggest laughs in the film. Harrelson is perfectly cast as the lecherous, sleazy and womanising Eddie, who has few redeeming features; the role is not exactly a stretch for Harrelson who is in familiar territory with this character. Lowden is quite unlikeable and sleazy as Ryan, whose selfish actions drive much of the drama. Albert Brooks brings a sense of decency to his performance as Moore. Kumail Nanjiani (from The Big Sick, etc) also registers strongly with his role as Trooper Nash, Ella’s loyal driver who dispenses some pearls of wisdom and sage advice while chauffeuring her around the city.
There’s almost something old-fashioned about Ella McKay, which seems rooted somewhere in the filmmaking tradition of the 80s and 90s. It’s also a lesser film from Brooks and a far cry from the assurance and confident tone of his Oscar winning Terms Of Endearment.
★★★
