Ella McCay

To paraphrase one of the Caped Crusader’s most articulate but menacing foes, “When is a movie not a movie?” The answer: “When it should be a TV series instead.” And that, unfortunately, is the inherent problem with this latest offering from legendary film and television writer-director-producer James L. Brooks. Set during the 2008 financial crisis, this comedy-drama tells the multifaceted story of its likable but beleaguered title character (Emma Mackey), an idealistic and enthusiastic lieutenant governor who champions causes aimed at helping everyday citizens, even if she’s somewhat long-winded and overbearing in expressing herself. But, when her boss, affable, plainspoken “Governor Bill” (Albert Brooks), is named to a Presidential Cabinet post, Ella is unexpectedly elevated into the state’s top executive post. However, she quickly finds herself dancing as fast as she can in handling both her political responsibilities and the challenges posed by her long-dysfunctional family members, pulling her in multiple directions at once. And that, sadly, is where the film gets itself into trouble by trying to incorporate too many story threads into one picture. Granted, each of the individual narrative elements is mostly solid but also mostly underdeveloped, simply because there are too many of them to adequately fit into the time constraints of a typical commercial production. For starters, there’s Ella’s stressful relationship with her estranged father, Eddie (Woody Harrelson), a serial philanderer who broke the heart of her lovelorn mother (Rebecca Hall), despite his pledges to mend his ways. Additional challenges come up in Ella’s dealings with her younger, socially inept brother, Casey (Spike Fearn), and his occasional girlfriend, Susan (Avo Edibiri), as well as the new governor’s strained relationship with her husband, Ryan (Jack Lowden), who struggles with the demands of his wife’s excessive workload. To help her cope with these issues, Ella turns to her zany, no-nons...

This film tries to make several points and misses them all. The trailer doesn't lead to the fact that it's a political comedy-drama and it disappoints on that, too. I interviewed seven individuals after the film and they all said the same thing: they were disappointed and had no idea what the film was about. My wife and I rip this film a new one on our YouTube channel: @Back2UsReviews. We were very disappointed with the film and now understand why James L. Brooks hasn't had a hit since '97. So sad that Hans Zimmer had anything to do with this turd of a film.

When her boss and mentor “Governor Bill” (Albert Brooks) tells his lieutenant that he’s got himself a job in the cabinet, “Ella” (Emma Mackey) is excited that she can now get hold of the state’s infrastructure to institute her radical political agenda - for at least the next fourteen months. Her husband “Ryan” (Jack Lowden) is also thrilled, though perhaps not for quite the same reasons and her aunt/confidante “Helen” (Jamie Lee Curtis) is delighted for her news but sceptical about her husband being a bit of a ticking time bomb. “Ella” is more of a detail person and that has the ability to bore witless or just plain alienate her friends and foes alike, so when a journalist threatens to expose that she and her fella have been using state property for some extra-curricular activities, she finds herself seriously short of allies. Not least because, although the public seem not to care less, stupid old “Ryan” goes and gets himself involved with some fairly disastrous results for just about everyone. Meantime, we learn that she is the estranged daughter of the womanising “Eddie” (Woody Harrelson) and has a super-bright but agoraphobic brother “Casey” (Spike Fearn) whom she wants to encourage to reconnect with his erstwhile girlfriend “Susan” (Ayo Edebiri). So with all of that going on, she’s barely three days into her governorship and the wheels are coming off already. What can she do? I did like like the premises here. A woman less adept at the politics and bs inheriting a position where she can implement change without having to indulge the sponsors and, to an extent, even the voters. Instead, though, we get a weakly structured melodrama that gives JLC virtually no chance to impose herself, leaves Lowden with a completely undercooked character and so Mackey is left to sustain the film largely by herself, and there just isn’t enough story for anyone to get their teeth into. I thought Fearn stood out as his “Casey” brought to light a condition that isn’t often in the Hol...

The writing is nearly perfect. The characters are honest to a fault. They don't represent real life, but instead how I wish we communicated, honestly.

Ella McCay is an honest and well communicated character. To read the lines creates the nessiary delivery.

The movie has a great story arc and it is nice to see a movie where you know exactly who the characters are immediately, but you still care about the drama they're experiencing.

Watching in the theatre is not required. Ella McCay will be a fantastic couch movie.

The father (Woody) is a womanizer. Between him and the story, I'd choose a different movie for a date night.

SPOILER-ish The weakest part of the movie is the Ella's husbands mother. They had a lot to accomplish with her very breif scene and and it fell short. Nearly everything about it was to setup the low point of the movie and it tried too hard.