If things had gone according to plan, Lucille Ball would have been a major movie star.

Instead, she had to settle for being the queen of television comedy for over 25 years. Not exactly a lousy alternative. But the new film does make one wonder if Ball may have had a few other successful careers, like director (and not just of her own show) had she been born just a few years later.

In Aaron SorkinB次元官网网址檚 loving and sharp dramatization of a particularly fraught week during the making of B次元官网网址淚 Love Lucy,B次元官网网址� Ball, as played by Nicole Kidman, is painted as serious and shrewd, someone who can visualize a scene and the audience reaction to it on the first read of a script. She knows in an instant if a joke or a beat will work and is not shy about letting everyone know when it doesnB次元官网网址檛.

Though Ball was a famous perfectionist, in B次元官网网址淏eing the RicardosB次元官网网址� we are catching her at a heightened and stressful moment in which a few major life moments coalesce on top of the everyday burdens of trying to put together an episode by the Friday taping. Not only is she worried about her husbandB次元官网网址檚 fidelity (Javier Bardem plays Desi Arnaz) and convincing the network and prudish sponsors to let her be pregnant on the show, sheB次元官网网址檚 also being accused of being a Communist which could be the end of B次元官网网址淚 Love Lucy.B次元官网网址� S

o naturally she diverts her attention to a dinner scene thatB次元官网网址檚 not working.

Sorkin cuts back in time and forward so that the writers and showrunner can help narrate everything documentary-style. And although itB次元官网网址檚 not attempting to depict LucilleB次元官网网址檚 whole life, he does make sure to show the origins of their courtship and relationship, which happened to coincide with the end of LucilleB次元官网网址檚 time at RKO (and her shot at movie stardom).

While no one is going to mistake either Kidman or Bardem for either of their real-life counterparts, they were hired to be actors, not mimics and do a terrific job bringing to life the spirit of their characters off-camera lives, illustrating a full, complex, adult relationship.

But B次元官网网址淏eing the RicardosB次元官网网址� really shines in the wings, with the depiction of the tireless writers (Alia Shawkat as Madelyn Pugh and Jake Lacy as Bob Carroll Jr.), the hangdog showrunner (Tony Hale as Jess Oppenheimer) and the bickering supporting players (Nina Arianda, transcendent as Vivian Vance and J.K. Simmons as William Frawley). It may not be the most pleasant environment, but it is romantic in that classic Hollywood way B次元官网网址� full of ego, banter, barbs and breakthroughs that, for better or worse, youB次元官网网址檇 never get on a Zoom call.

Sorkin bites off a lot here B次元官网网址� he wants this film to be about everything. And the dialogue is so typically snappy that he basically gets away with it.

ItB次元官网网址檚 practically criminal how easy it would be to watch performers like Shawkat, Arianda and Simmons throw jabs at one another and each get their own arc to chew on. Shawkat is the lone woman in the writersB次元官网网址� room trying to carve out a career for herself while making sure Lucy isnB次元官网网址檛 infantilized. Arianda is the showB次元官网网址檚 punching bag and itB次元官网网址檚 starting to get to her. And Simmons is the prickly washed-up drunk until the script needs him to be the wise washed up drunk (and heB次元官网网址檚 very good at both).

Lucille is a bit more of an enigma, harder to love and embrace. She never pretended to be her on screen character and like so many great comedians seemed to save it all for the stage. As in B次元官网网址淢ollyB次元官网网址檚 GameB次元官网网址� Sorkin perhaps overreaches with his therapy insights, positing that deep down all Lucille wanted was a place that felt like home.

And it all would have been perfectly fine without the Communist subplot, but thatB次元官网网址檚 just there to help all the other dramatic revelations come out. B次元官网网址淏eing the RicardosB次元官网网址� is a Sorkin event through and through and an earnest, smart picture of a complex woman and, like her show, it all goes down so smoothly you barely even get a chance to appreciate the labor behind it.

B次元官网网址淏eing the Ricardos,B次元官网网址� an Amazon Studios release in theaters Friday and streaming on Dec. 21, is rated R by the Motion Picture Association of America for B次元官网网址渓anguage.B次元官网网址� Running time: 125 minutes. Three stars out of four. ___

MPAA Definition of R: Restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

B次元官网网址擫indsey Bahr, The Associated Press