Phil Roberts 
Ella McCay is a charming, fun, but uninspired addition to James L. Brooks’ filmography. While the film isn’t a complete car crash, it offers little more than a trivial side excursion.
After a 15-year hiatus, James L. Brooks returns to the directorial hot seat this week, hoping to add to his brilliant filmography with Ella McCay. The film is a political comedy-drama, which is always a hard stone to draw blood from. But after delivering classics like As Good as It Gets and Terms of Endearment, on paper, the writer/director has the talent necessary to bring this story to the screen. Starring Emma Mackey and a strong supporting cast featuring Jamie Lee Curtis and Woody Harrelson, the film has all the hallmarks of an instant classic. But can Brooks return from Hollywood’s fringes and deliver the movie his fans are yearning for? Or is Ella McCay another disappointment destined for the bargain bin?
REVIEW
Sadly, film fans, it’s a mixed bag for Brooks’ latest effort. Ella McCay is a charming, fun, but uninspired addition to his filmography that just about justifies its existence. While the film isn’t a complete car crash, it offers nothing more than a trivial outing for Emma Mackey’s innocent, wholly naive politician, who spends the entire film confronting demons attributed to the men in her life. The film follows McCay, who is quickly promoted to the Governorship after her predecessor accepts a cabinet position in the incoming administration. However, despite her achievements, her strained relationships with her estranged brother, father, and current husband pose a risk to her rise to power.
EMMA MACKEY
While Mackey works wonders with the material and ingratiates herself with the audience, the screenplay does little more than cast her as a smarter-than-average but wholly clueless cartoonish politician dealing with some way-over-the-top teenage melodrama on the grandest scale. Brooks’ screenplays are typically sharp and multi-layered, featuring well-placed satire and even sharper one-liners. But Ella McCay lacks all the charm of his previous works. Even when the film hits its stride, it never truly feels believable, leaving Mackey to pick up the pieces of her character’s wafer-thin storyline.
SUPPORTING CAST
Frustratingly, it isn’t only Mackey’s McCay that suffers from the cartoonish characterisations. Even Woody Harrelson is left to scramble through the rubble of his character to find something tangible to latch onto. As a result, he is sidelined for much of the movie and offers nothing of substance when on screen. In fact, he spends the entire film pleading with Ella for forgiveness for his past transgressions, and returns to the fringes when his pleas are rejected, only to return for more of the same every 25 minutes or so. It’s so frustrating to see Harrelson sidelined like this. The actor has many strings to his bow and brings his infectious energy to his characters, but here he feels stifled.
Even Jack Lowden experiences a similar fate. He plays Ryan, Ella’s husband, a sleazy, manipulative mama’s boy. Throughout the film, Lowden sulks because his wife is more successful than he is, and uses his relationship with Ella to further his ambitions. But even that sours when she rebuffs his constant cries for attention and recognition.
JAMIE LEE CURTIS
Thankfully, Jamie Lee Curtis’ involvement is rewarded with the film’s best character. Cast as Ella’s Aunt, Helen, Curtis is rewarded with the film’s best lines and makes the most of them, delivering a character we can all rally behind. Helen’s sharp-tongued, no-nonsense attitude radiates with Brooks’ trademark writing skills and reminds us of Jack Nicholson’s masterful performance in As Good as It Gets. From the opening moments, Curtis steals the limelight and never looks back, even upstaging her co-stars in the film’s finale. At this stage in her career, Jamie Lee Curtis continues to ooze with the brilliance that made her a household name, and here she effortlessly outshines her castmates.
The only other member of the cast to be rewarded with a character of any real substance is Albert Brooks as Ella’s mentor, Governor Bill. Although he plays the stereotypical politician, spin-doctoring his way through the political minefields around him, Brooks holds his own, delivering a performance that is as engrossing as it is endearing.
POLITICS
Brooks’s slick performance doesn’t shy away from the duplicitous nature of a politician; instead, he embraces the absurdity of the role and delivers a performance of genuine heft. At times, he serves as a brilliant mentor, helping Ella navigate the hurdles standing in the way of her proposals. In contrast, at others, he slips into the role of a self-serving public servant reaping the rewards of his newfound pedestal. While this isn’t anything groundbreaking, Brooks pulls off both sides of his character with zeal and offers a shining light in the sea of the ordinary.
VERDICT
Overall, Ella McCay is a good but far from grand entry into James L. Brooks’ filmography. Despite the brilliant performances from Jamie Lee Curtis, Albert Brooks, and Emma Mackey, the film offers little more than a trivial side excursion that, while entertaining in part, fades into memory as soon as the credits roll. Before my screening, Jamie Lee Curtis told the crowd that she’d been waiting for Brook’s call her entire career, and that was enough to compel her to join the cast. And sadly, that feels endemic to the whole cast. From Woody Harrelson to Jack Lowden and Kumail Nanjiani to Spike Fearn, every member of the cast flocked to the director’s banner, no matter the quality of the screenplay, and that sums the film up in a nutshell.
While it might not be the classic we all hoped for, Hans Zimmer’s soundtrack and Brooks’ occasionally enjoyable screenplay offer just enough to entertain a crowd for its running time. So book a ticket and watch the fanciful hijinks unfold. Just don’t expect a classic because sadly, this is far from it!
Ella McCay hits UK cinemas on December 12th.
Meet Phil Roberts! He’s the dedicated owner, daily content manager, and editor-in-chief of The Future of the Force. Phil is a budding novelist who turned his passion toward writing about the franchises he loves back in 2016. He’s a huge fan of all things Star Wars, Batman, DC, Marvel, Star Trek, Indiana Jones, Ghostbusters, King Kong, and the Ray Harryhausen movies. Phil is a BFI-accredited journalist and a distinguished member of the Film Critics Association UK.
If he’s not catching a movie at the cinema, you can bet he’s streaming something just as awesome!
