I loved the old Lucy episodes, they were my introduction to North American television and the sitcom.
Nicole Kidman is a hopeless casting of the beloved Lucy. That horsey laugh I loved is missing and what's with that lifeless face of Kidman? And she's far too flat, in every sense for the role. And too old. I kept looking at those staring eyes and that frozen doll face and shaking my head.
Javier Badem is not as seriously miscast but is a little old for the role in that Desi was younger than Lucy and fairly boyish.
I never quite engaged emotionally with the pair of them. The dialogue sounded fake and the anachronisms were jarring. ("Gaslighting?" seriously?). The jumps were awkward with the timeline all over the place. And PS wasn't Frawley gay - but he gets upset by a young woman calling him old?
Lucie Arnaz and her brother were heavily invested in this production and have done a lot of heavy duty supporting marketing. Of course.
The process of the show-making itself was very well done, the studio audiences, the run throughs. But even the interaction of the writers/producers felt out of place and time. And Lucy doing laundry while reading a script was a bit of a stretch.
The underlying constant betrayals by Desi was given short shrift here. The shallow foundation of their marriage, his alcoholism and her heartbreak off set glossed over.
I'd love to see a good script and good casting do them justice. They deserve far, far better than this shallow treatment.
4/10.
Nicole Kidman is a hopeless casting of the beloved Lucy. That horsey laugh I loved is missing and what's with that lifeless face of Kidman? And she's far too flat, in every sense for the role. And too old. I kept looking at those staring eyes and that frozen doll face and shaking my head.
Javier Badem is not as seriously miscast but is a little old for the role in that Desi was younger than Lucy and fairly boyish.
I never quite engaged emotionally with the pair of them. The dialogue sounded fake and the anachronisms were jarring. ("Gaslighting?" seriously?). The jumps were awkward with the timeline all over the place. And PS wasn't Frawley gay - but he gets upset by a young woman calling him old?
Lucie Arnaz and her brother were heavily invested in this production and have done a lot of heavy duty supporting marketing. Of course.
The process of the show-making itself was very well done, the studio audiences, the run throughs. But even the interaction of the writers/producers felt out of place and time. And Lucy doing laundry while reading a script was a bit of a stretch.
The underlying constant betrayals by Desi was given short shrift here. The shallow foundation of their marriage, his alcoholism and her heartbreak off set glossed over.
I'd love to see a good script and good casting do them justice. They deserve far, far better than this shallow treatment.
4/10.