A comedy made by James L. Brooks should be jolly, but this one is too jolly.
James L. Brooks’ latest comedy (and the first one he has directed since “How Do You Know”) wants to be a throwback to those 90s comedies with that jolly feel that’s supposed to make movie-goers feel good. They were the kind to resonate with comedies from the 40s and 50s, and the kind that Frank Capra specialized. I was thinking about “It Could Happen To You,” “Mrs. Doubtfire,” “The Hudsucker Proxy,” or “Dave,” and they all were delightful in every sense of the word. But for a film made by the same genius behind “Broadcast News,” “Terms of Endearment,” “As Good as It Gets,” and “Spanglish,” you feel like he could do better and has done better.
Emma Mackey plays Ella McCay (no relation), an idealistic and talkative lieutenant governor in an unnamed state in the middle of the Great Recession of 2008, who I think might be on the autistic spectrum based on how much she talks and how she understands the world of politics. She’s poised to take over the position of her boss Governor Bill (Albert Brooks), who is up for the Secretary of the Interior job during the Obama administration. His one downside towards her is that she’s annoying, and even everyone else thinks so.
There’s also her high school sweetheart Ryan (Jack Lowden), who is the heir to a pizza place and transitions into an unhappy jerk. He’s the kind who gets disillusioned when his wife doesn’t mention his name in her inaugural speech. And he’s also the kind to think that “co-governing” with his wife can fix their marriage.
Her unfaithful father (Woody Harrelson) has made some bad choices that affected her dead mother (Rebecca Hall), and acts like he’s supposed to be forgiven from start to finish. Periodically, he comes back into her life with some optimism that maybe Ella could call his past actions water under the bridge. And the only person she can talk to about her problems is her Aunt Helen (Jamie Lee Curtis), who also runs a restaurant, and has always been there for her since her childhood pathos.
Julie Kavner A.K.A. Marge Simpson is the narrator of the film, who also serves as Ella’s secretary. She explains how things were in her childhood and how things are going in 2008.
You also get Kumail Nanjiani as one of Ella’s loyal security guard, driver and state trooper, whose scenes require her to say: “Speak up, I can’t hear you” when he share this words of wisdom in the car.
And we also meet Ella’s younger brother Casey (Spike Fearn), who might be seen an agoraphobic as he hasn’t left his home in months. He assures Ella that he isn’t an agoraphobic; he just chooses not to leave the house. But for work, he specializes in helping people with online betting, and as an excuse to leave the house, he must patch things up with his ex-girlfriend (Ayo Ebebiri).
The score of “Ella McCay” is composed by Hans Zimmer, and it has that 90s comedy feel, especially since he has worked on “As Good as It Gets” and “Spanglish.” I get what this movie is trying to resonate, and I miss those comedies, as bad comedies think that awkward faces and THC-infused cookies are comedy gold. I think that’s also what “Ella McCay” is trying to do, and it fails miserably.
If you want to see a comedy that resonates with Frank Capra films, then watch “Fly Me to the Moon” with Channing Tatum, Scarlett Johanson, and by a strange coincidence, Woody Harrelson. That film knew how to be old fashioned and delightful without trying so hard. “Ella McCay” is like a person trying and failing to be cool at a get-together, and talks so much that it’s often difficult to keep up. In fact, I was reminded of being criticized by a talkative griller at my parent’s yacht club, who told me I should have listened to him during a certain part of his lesson. I would have if he didn’t talk too fast.