Ella McCay

I was intrigued by the trailer and impressed by the cast for Ella McCay so my nephew and I went to see it at a matinee yesterday.  I didn't hate it as much as most other people seem to but I really expected to like it a lot more than I did.  Ella McCay (Emma Mackey) is a young and idealistic lieutenant governor of an unnamed state.  She desperately wants to improve the lives of the people she serves but her earnest and no-nonsense style has made her very unpopular with lawmakers.  When the popular governor, Bill Moore (Albert Brooks), is offered a presidential cabinet position, he resigns and she succeeds him.  Her first priority is to pass a bill benefiting mothers and children but she is plagued by a scandal involving her duplicitous husband Ryan (Jack Lowdon), the sudden reappearance of her estranged father Eddie (Woody Harrelson) who repeatedly cheated on her mother Claire (Rebecca Hall), and concern for her neurodivergent brother Casey (Spike Fearn) after the end of his relationship with his girlfriend Susan (Aya Edebiri).  With the help of her aunt Helen (Jamie Lee Curtis), her driver Nash (Kumail Nanjiani), and her secretary Estelle (Julie Kavner), she ultimately finds a different way to do some good.  With such a stellar cast, I did really enjoy the performances.  Mackey, especially, is incredibly appealing and is very effective in her portrayal of a wide range of emotions (although she is less effective in portraying the 16-year-old version of her character in flashbacks).  I especially loved her interactions with Curtis (the highlight of the movie for me).  However, there are way too many underdeveloped characters to keep track of with lots of different subplots that happen very randomly (the pacing is incredibly chaotic).  It is very episodic with brief flashes of humor but it is definitely not as funny as I thought it would be (I only laughed a couple of times).  Finally, the resolutions to the main conflicts are rushed and not necessarily earned (especially the one involving Casey and Susan).  Unfortunately, this is a mess and I wouldn't recommend it.