An idealistic young woman juggles her family and work life in a comedy about the people you love and how to survive them.
Chuck says:
Having not directed a movie for 15 years, James Brooks steps behind the camera once more with “Ella McCay,” a film that, not surprisingly, is a bit out of step with the times. This proves to be a minor quibble, as a much more serious narrative blunder occurs that completely derails the story, an approach the veteran filmmaker should have been wise enough to avoid.
Played with pluck to spare by Emma Mackey, Ella is an idealistic politician, the lieutenant governor of an unnamed state, who knows exactly what kinds of policies she’d like to enact, but lacks the political acumen to get anything done. This proves to be a major problem when circumstances occur that thrust her into the governor’s seat, a role she embraces with zeal. Problem is, a perfect storm of problems emerge that thwart her at every turn.
After being gone for nearly 20 years, her deadbeat dad (Woody Harrelson) reappears seeking forgiveness for his many paternal sins; a reporter threatens to break a story that will put her in a negative light; her brother, Casey (Spike Fearn) has seemingly gone missing and her husband, Ryan (Jack Lowden) threatens to leave her, unless he’s given a key role in her administration.
Yeah, it’s a lot, especially as all these events are crammed into a three-day period. For the most part, it works. Smart but not patronizing, funny but not forced, the film gets more interesting by the minute as one knotty moral dilemma after another rears its ugly head. The performances are sincere and effective, Jamie Lee Curtis as Ella’s Aunt Helen, Kumail Nanjiani as Trooper Nash and Albert Brooks as Governor Bill, providing that little extra something veterans of their ilk contribute effortlessly. So far, so good…
However, at the one-hour mark, Brooks forgets the title of the film he’s making. Seeking refuge from the tumult swirling around her, Ella drops in on her hapless brother Casey (Spike Fearn) and the movie grinds to a halt. A character as irritating as he is dull, his presence sucks the very life out of the movie, the mundanity of his troubles standing in stark contrast to his sister’s. Suffering from severe anxiety and a bit of agoraphobia, while running a questionable number-crunching operation, he’s agonizing over the fact that, a year ago, he didn’t ask out a young woman (Ayo Edebiri) he thinks he could build a future with. Being the object of Casey’s affection has us sympathizing with her from the start. That being the case, the way their storyline winds up defies all logic.
The boat nearly rights itself once the focus shifts back to Ella but the momentum and urgency never fully returns. The film’s theme is worthwhile as Brooks, rather naively, puts forth the notion that government can still act in the best interest of its citizenry and many social ills can be addressed and solved with tenacity and good will. To be sure, the last time sentiments such as these were heard without a degree of cynicism was when Frank Capra espoused them in 1939’s “Mr. Smith goes to Washington,” yet Brooks heart is in the right place.
In the end, “McCay” reveals itself to be a scattered movie, Brooks having lost the ability to combine sincere drama with genuine humor. The deft touch that made “Terms of Endearment” and “As Good as it Gets” classics seems to have abandoned him. The director, much like his contemporaries Francis Ford Coppola, Clint Eastwood and Kevin Costner, seems woefully out of step with the times.
2 1/2 Stars
