Ella McCay <\/p>\n
\ue9d9 \ue9d9 \ue9d9 \ue9d7 \ue9d7 <\/p>\n
Director: James L Brooks<\/p>\n
Cert: 12A<\/p>\n
Genre: Comedy<\/p>\n
Starring: Emma Mackey, Jamie Lee Curtis, Jack Lowden, Kumail Nanjiani, Ayo Edebiri, Julie Kavner, Spike Fearn, Rebecca Hall, Albert Brooks, Woody Harrelson<\/p>\n
Running Time: 1 hr 55 mins<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a crossover promotional video for this film in which an excited Lisa and Marge Simpson<\/a> emerge from a screening of Ella McCay only to walk straight back into the next showing of this \u201cvery, very, almost great movie\u201d. \u201cThey sure don\u2019t make \u2019em like that any more,\u201d Marge says.<\/p>\n Well, quite. James L Brooks<\/a> returns to film-making after a decade and a half with a big-hearted, politically themed comic drama that might easily have been the slightly underpowered follow-up to As Good as It Gets.<\/p>\n At 85, Brooks retains an instinct for human foibles and complex characters, even if on this occasion the material doesn\u2019t always live up to his cast.<\/p>\n Emma Mackey<\/a> plays the titular young politician from a fictional US state. Ella\u2019s tenure as lieutenant governor unfolds in 2008, affording the film a comfortable remove from the polarities of contemporary American politics. She is a kind of Mrs Smith Goes to Washington: idealistic, chronically overextended, and on the rise.<\/p>\n If only her ascent weren\u2019t continually derailed by the small menagerie of crises emanating from her private life. Or, more specifically, the men in her life. Jack Lowde<\/a>n plays the ambitious, faintly suspect husband; Woody Harrelson<\/a> the philandering father forever angling for reconciliation; and Spike Fearn the shut-in younger brother. <\/p>\n Jamie Lee Curtis<\/a> and Julie Kavner<\/a> \u2013 the voice of Marge Simpson \u2013 steal scenes, as Ella\u2019s emotionally disruptive aunt and her wily secretary. <\/p>\n It\u2019s a formidable ensemble, and they work hard to generate the sort of lived-in warmth Brooks is loved for. Mackey embodies the film\u2019s wide-eyed hopeful spirit. <\/p>\n But even superb actors can do only so much when a script feels baggy. Conflicts emerge only to be waved away moments later, and the swerves between folksy political fable, broad family comedy and tear-jerking melodrama are sudden and many.<\/p>\n