Film Review: Ella McCay
A Story About The People You Love, And How To Survive Them
INTRODUCTION
This is a quick review of the newly released film Ella McCay. Please note that this is just one of the many movies I will have watched each year, and my initial grade for this film may change over time, for better or worse. To stay up to date on my thoughts about other movies and any potential changes in my opinion on this one, follow me on Letterboxd.
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PLOT
Via Letterboxd: An idealistic young politician juggles familial issues and a challenging work life while preparing to take over the job of her mentor, the state’s longtime incumbent governor.
REVIEW
James L. Brooks isn’t a particularly prolific big-screen storyteller. Now in his mid-eighties, Ella McCay marks just the seventh feature he’s directed, with only a handful more films bearing his screenwriting credit. His primary day job, of course, has long been writing for the decades-running animated juggernaut The Simpsons.
And yet, the films Brooks has directed include titles widely considered among the best of their respective years; As Good As It Gets, Broadcast News, and Terms Of Endearment, the latter a Best Picture winner. Unfortunately, his later work has saddled him with a reputation as someone who “doesn’t have it anymore,” following the mixed-to-negative receptions of I’ll Do Anything, Spanglish, and How Do You Know.
Heading into his latest, and perhaps final, film, Ella McCay, there was genuine anticipation surrounding his return to directing. Early on, there was even some speculation that this could reenter his stuff into the awards conversation, as his best films once did. But those expectations were quickly tempered once the marketing and trailers began circulating, suggesting a style of comedy rooted in a bygone era, one that doesn’t quite translate to modern filmmaking, let alone Oscar contention. Admittedly, the trailers didn’t work for me at all, and the reviews I’d read beforehand did little to improve my outlook. In hindsight, 20th Century Studios not offering me a screener or a screening suddenly made more sense.
I struggled with how to approach this review because my reaction to the film is ultimately conflicted. Rather than force a single thesis, it feels more honest to walk through my reactions piece by piece and let that paint a clearer picture of my overall impressions.
From a directorial standpoint, I can’t really fault Brooks; I wouldn’t call this a badly directed film as much as its a competently directed with bad material to deal with. From a performance standpoint, the ensemble does the best they can with the material they’re given, but its, again, not great materia. And on a conceptual level, there are aspects of the story I found genuinely interesting. The decision to set the film in 2008 and use its political backdrop actually worked better for me than it seems to have for others.
The film’s biggest problems, however, stem directly from the screenplay. Sadly, Ella McCay is just as poorly written as the marketing suggested. Brooks feels extremely rusty as a feature screenwriter, especially when it comes to dialogue. No one sounds like a real person; the humor often feels like something lifted from a cheap GEICO or Progressive commercial; and the film attempts to appear smart and savvy by juggling so many subplots that the sheer bloat overwhelms any charm it might have had a chance to develop.
Not to mention Ella’s own arc at times is overshadowed by the attempts at so many different stories going on. This creates an issue where the film almost feels like its being made up as it goes along, and where the movie takes certain character arcs to places that either feel unfulfilled or in places that feel like there’s supposed to be extra meat on that bone.
What you’re left with is a very cheesy, badly written “comfort movie” that desperately wants to be smarter than it is. It’s weighed down by narrative bloat, unresolved plot threads, and a lack of tonal discipline. Ultimately, it is easily Brooks’ weakest film to date. This is the kind of project I’d expect from a cheap, straight-to-Netflix release, a bad one at that, not a theatrically released film from a director who once helmed a Best Picture winner.
I hate to say it, but Brooks simply doesn’t have the juice he once did. Ella McCay is a depressingly clear example of that reality. I originally came out of it giving it a mediocre C+, but the movie has aged so bad with me that I’d rather re-watch a whole batch of other bad films from this year before I’d re-watch this, so I’m landing on the horrible grade of D+. This movie is as much a disaster as Ella’s political ambitions prove to be.
“TL;DR”
Pros: I genuinely found the political backdrop of this to be quite interesting; I honestly found that the ensemble were trying their best with weak material
Cons: The film’s screenplay trickles down to flaws in dialogue, story beats, character arcs, and bloat from all the subplots it attempts; The humor feels amazingly cringe and low-budget; The final product is a disaster and easily Brook’s worst film
GRADING
