Ella McCay

Grade: C+

There’s a scene in Ella McCay where the title character eats and drinks things that have an ingredient she wasn’t aware of, and in doing so, gets very high. Her behavior isn’t any different from the rest of the movie. With James L. Brooks as the writer/director, you just have to resign yourself to the reality that it will be more about overacting, mugging, one-liners, and “bits” than believable situations. The plot will go in random, meandering directions. His end products are messy, but often work well enough despite that. To name a few examples, this is the man responsible for Terms of Endearment and As Good As It Gets – not to mention a co-creator of The Tracey Ullman Show and some obscure animated spinoff that resulted from it. 

Ella McCay marks 88-year-old Brooks’s first film as a writer/director since 2010’s How Do You Know. Unfortunately, this time around, the messiness, randomness, and histrionics bog it down into something I can’t recommend. It’s not for lack of trying or ability of the actors. These are strong performers who throw everything into their roles. From the old veterans who have worked with him before to the up-and-comers, everyone successfully “speaks Brooks.” They get his rhythm, and however far off the rails the narrative goes, they consistently make inventive acting choices, and play off of each other well.

The film is set in 2008, in an unspecified state. Julie Kavner, sounding more like Marge Simpson than ever, is the narrator. She also plays Estelle, who works for Ella, doing just about everything imaginable. Need a secretary/assistant? Estelle can do it. Need someone to make the press go away? Estelle can do it. Want some cookies? Estelle has already baked some. Are there baby seals around that need to be trained? Estelle can do…ok, maybe not that last thing.

When it comes to a plot, there are many balls in the air. However, the main through-line is Ella’s unexpected, sudden, high-profile promotion. She is lieutenant governor, and has just gotten word that the Governor, Bill Moore (Albert Brooks), has just accepted a cabinet position, which moves Ella up to the Governor position for the rest of what would have been Moore’s term. Longer than that, if she does well and people like her. A sex scandal immediately rears its head – one that will make you think “Really? Why is this a controversy?” Word has leaked out that Ella and her husband have been using an apartment on government property to have intimate rendezvous during his lunch hour. That’s right. She has been having sex with her husband almost every day, and the whole town – wherever they are – is up in arms.

Various subplots weave in and out, including Woody Harrelson as Ella’s father, and Jamie Lee Curtis as Ella’s aunt. Harrelson cheated on Ella’s mom while she was terminally ill, and Curtis raised Ella after her mom/Curtis’s sister passed. All of these people play the younger versions of themselves in flashbacks, questionable wigs and all. She has a significantly younger brother, who is a preteen in the early scenes. When they reconnect in 2008, he has some vague movie mental illness. Whatever he does for work (from his messy home) involves three or four large computer screens next to one another.

Ella McCay is played by Emma Mackey. That won’t be difficult to keep straight, right? I’ve previously seen her in Hot Milk and Barbie – but this, if nothing else, shows her true star power, and I hope it leads to the kind of vehicles she deserves. Brooks, Curtis, and Harrelson coast by, doing the Brooks, Curtis, and Harrelson thing. Kavner’s character can do everything and be everywhere, and proclaims she’s “nuts about [Ella].” Business meetings include Ella mechanically rattling off bullet points about budgets and delegations, while others at the conference table yawn and snore. Her husband is cartoonish. Love scenes have body parts covered up in strategic, safe PG-13 fashion. There’s a running gag where Ella keeps not being able to hear her driver when he speaks from the front seat. It’s more confusing than funny.

The story squeezes, crams, contorts, and finagles itself into a happy ending. I believed very little, and was ready to have it put to bed. Brooks’s usual sunny direction, and the actors – skilled as they are – are not enough to elevate Emma McCay into greatness or even goodness. I’m grateful that Brooks, at his age, chose to work again, and had more to give us – but this isn’t as good as he gets. Hey, is your unicycle in need of repair? I bet Estelle can do it.

Grade: C+