I've read the other reviews here with people giving various opinions about why the film needn't have been made, etc. I completely disagree and I suspect many of them were written by people who were not alive when "I Love Lucy" first aired.
This movie is brilliant in every way...the acting, the cinematography, the depiction of the time period, the story, the direction...in short, the works. Nicole Kidman silences, once and for all, those critics who accuse her of not being a top actress. She pulls off the Lucy role with aplomb. She doesn't do it with complete duplication, rather she adopts some mannerisms Ball used and adjusts her voice to a sultry gravelly sound which is uncannily similar to Lucy's actual voice. Bardem does a wonderful job as Desi...his voice, his singing and his mannerisms are spot on! Yes, he doesn't look like Desi but five minutes into the movie and you will believe that he is actually Desi Arnaz. J. K. Simmons and Nina Arianda are just brilliant as Fred and Viv.
Quite apart from the excellent way the film portrays the back room politics and dynamics at work making a hit tv show, the film touches on some important points about the "white bread" racism and sexism which were the norm when the show was being made.
For me, however, this film brings back my childhood memories of watching "I Love Lucy" on my family's 21 inch b/w tv. Life was simpler then and there was real magic being created on television at the time. This was long before reality television and the many other forms of "entertainment" which seem to have reduced network television to an also-ran in the entertainment stakes.
If you are a fan of Lucille Ball you simply must go and see this film... It shows Lucy and Desi as what they were...hardworking decent human beings who just wanted to make people laugh and earn a living from it.
This movie is brilliant in every way...the acting, the cinematography, the depiction of the time period, the story, the direction...in short, the works. Nicole Kidman silences, once and for all, those critics who accuse her of not being a top actress. She pulls off the Lucy role with aplomb. She doesn't do it with complete duplication, rather she adopts some mannerisms Ball used and adjusts her voice to a sultry gravelly sound which is uncannily similar to Lucy's actual voice. Bardem does a wonderful job as Desi...his voice, his singing and his mannerisms are spot on! Yes, he doesn't look like Desi but five minutes into the movie and you will believe that he is actually Desi Arnaz. J. K. Simmons and Nina Arianda are just brilliant as Fred and Viv.
Quite apart from the excellent way the film portrays the back room politics and dynamics at work making a hit tv show, the film touches on some important points about the "white bread" racism and sexism which were the norm when the show was being made.
For me, however, this film brings back my childhood memories of watching "I Love Lucy" on my family's 21 inch b/w tv. Life was simpler then and there was real magic being created on television at the time. This was long before reality television and the many other forms of "entertainment" which seem to have reduced network television to an also-ran in the entertainment stakes.
If you are a fan of Lucille Ball you simply must go and see this film... It shows Lucy and Desi as what they were...hardworking decent human beings who just wanted to make people laugh and earn a living from it.