Ella McCay is a movie that has achieved something historic for me. I have been a film critic for 19 years and I have had a couple of movies that made me come close to walking out on them without finishing.
Well, I have a confession to make. Ella McCay is the first movie I’ve walked out on without finishing.
It’s painful for me to say that because being a film critic is a job that I love when it’s a great movie, but in those cases when a movie is truly awful, it robs me of the most precious commodity there is, which is time.
In the case of Ella McCay, here is a movie that is totally devoid of charm and likable characters. It has an inconsistent tone and a screenplay that seems haphazard from start to finish.
The movie stars Emma Mackey as the title character, an ambitious lieutenant governor who is told that the governor is accepting a cabinet position in the presidential administration and she has been selected as interim governor for 14 months.
Remember when I said this movie has no likable characters? That applies to Ella herself as she’s a woman who is known for endlessly boring speeches about her position, blackmail from reporters, and she consistently has family issues that play out like a massive soap opera.
Woody Harrelson and Rebecca Hall costar as her dad and mom, who may be going through some kind of marital turbulence, but it’s not fleshed out in a way that holds our attention or makes us believe we should have any empathy for these characters. Harrelson and Hall are severely miscast.
Jamie Lee Curtis costars as Ella’s aunt, who seems to be her steady rock throughout all the chaos, and Curtis is clearly the only actor in the movie making any attempt to add energy or spirit to the film, but she’s also handcuffed by the material.
Ella McCay was written and directed by James L. Brooks, who has made one terrific movie after another, such as Terms of Endearment and As Good As It Gets. He needs to find his way back to generating those kinds of films. Here, he gives us characters with the appeal of those you might find on daytime TV talk shows with low ratings.
The plot is all over the map as it gives us a series of flashbacks without focusing on what it wants to say. This is also evident in a subplot involving Ella’s husband (Jack Lowden) who may be in on the blackmail for ludicrous reasons I can’t begin to describe.
We’ve only got a few short weeks before I make my list of the year’s 10 best and worst lists of 2025. I’ll let you figure out which one Ella McCay will be on.
Grade: F
(Rated PG-13 for strong language, some sexual material and drug content.)
