I will say what I said when I first saw the news that Aaron Sorkin would be writing and directing a screenplay about Lucille Ball, “Debra Messing is waiting.”

And in seeing the final product, “Being the Ricardos,” I couldn’t help but wonder why she was not the main choice. Like, c’mon now, shawty.

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Now listen…

I love Nicole Kidman. Down. 🤌🏾🤌🏾

That lady be acting until it’s scary. 🤌🏾

She kills the AMC Cinematic Universe’s ads before the film starts. 🤌🏾

She’s a giant in the industry, and most everything she touches is golden. 🤌🏾🤌🏾

BUT!!!!!

I cannot give her this one, and not because she was horrible—quite the opposite.

Her performance was as good as the writing allowed.

But the makeup unfortunately transformed Kidman into a caricature of the beloved icon.

I had to pause a scene because I swear they added so much eye makeup to Nicole that she looked like a shocked Amy Adams (who also could have been a more than adequate contender for this role).

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It was difficult to sit through the flashbacks or downright re-imaginings of iconic “I Love Lucy” episodes that I can recall vividly, and see Nicole and Javier Bardem (Desi Arnaz) just look and feel completely off. The only actor who really came in, did their part seamlessly, and bowed out gracefully was J.K. Simmons as Bill Frawley.

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Also, a technical idea: so, the film is set during a time when the standard aspect ratio for television was 4.3. So, why not, when you’re framing a scene set on the set of one of the biggest television shows ever, use that aspect ratio when flashing back to the scene? Like in addition to using changing the film’s color from Color to Black & White.

The score was forced—it tried to force emotion—bad idea.

Pretty solid screenplay, which took creative liberties, and directing, but the one major faulty puzzle piece—the cast—brought down the film’s mise en scène.

And it was exhausting to finish. 😔