Ella McCay (2025) Review!!

Synopsis – An idealistic young woman juggles her family and work life in a comedy about the people you love and how to survive them.

My Take – Personally, I used to love those type of winsome, adult-skewing, and proudly middlebrow dramas that used to release dime a dozen during the ‘80s, ‘90s, and somewhere into the mid-2000s.

During this period, James L. Brooks, revered film and TV veteran probably best known as the co-creator of ‘The Simpsons’, made quite a name for himself with impressive ventures like the Oscar nominated and winning films like Terms of Endearment (1983), Broadcast News (1987), and As Good as It Gets (1997). And though his last two features, Spanglish (2004) and How Do You Know (2010), weren’t exactly well received, Brooks’ name continued to conjure an instant association with quality.

Unfortunately, his intended triumphant return to the director’s chair at the age of 85, is quite lackluster. Despite a talented cast who really do try their best and the few plot points that manage to keep you invested, the tonal inconsistencies and the clunky dialogue lose you along the way, even when it seems to mean well.

The material is further dampened by its subject matter. In a year marked by political conflicts, watching a comedy set in that world, even from 17 years ago, renders virtually any points made irrelevant. Making it feel like a throwback in all the wrong ways, with Brooks’ unwieldy script lacking the punch, idiosyncrasies, and humanity usually found in his work.

If the film does one thing right, it’s to convince the viewers that Emma Mackey deserves more chances to lead projects. Even if they will be sitting alongside this one.

Narrated by Estelle (Julie Kavner), a loyal assistant and admittedly hardly a neutral narrator, the story follows Ella McCay (Emma Mackey), an impassioned, idealistic 34-year-old lieutenant governor in an unspecified US state, who remains stung by the extra-marital affairs of her scandalized politician father Eddie (Woody Harrelson) and the untimely death of her mother Claire (Rebecca Hall).

Largely raised by her aunt, Helen (Jamie Lee Curtis), Ella is mostly giddy about the transformational power of politics, and instead works and leads by principle, factors which end up challenging her when her mentor, Governor Bill (Albert Brooks), gets promoted, lining her up for the governorship role. Even as she remains concerned about a mild scandal involving her high-school-sweetheart-turned-attention-hogging husband, Ryan (Jack Lowden), whom she has been sleeping with on government property most afternoons to keep their marriage alive.

And yearns to connect with her agoraphobic brother Casey (Spike Fearn), who hopes to reconnect with his former girlfriend Susan (Ayo Edebiri) after he ghosted her a year ago following an awkward proposal.

Indeed, director Brooks’ films have always been talky, and this is certainly sparky enough, but it stuffed with subplots that feel unnecessary. A diversion with Ella’s agoraphobic brother seems to come out of nowhere, a jealous mother-in-law (Becky Ann Baker) is also present, and a bizarre scene where a state trooper (Joey Brooks) demands to have overtime in order to fund his divorces. These superfluous story lines only serve to pull focus from an already unfocused main narrative.

There is both too much and not enough for this giant ensemble cast to get their teeth into as the writing also lets the film down: far too often, the dialogue is sloppy or under-cooked, the heightened reality too divorced from anything tangible. Characters here say things that actual people never would.

Perhaps worst of all, its comedy is laugh-free: full of the kinds of clichés and slapstick that make it virtually self-parody. But the biggest problem with the first film in 15 years from legendary filmmaker James L. Brooks, is that its protagonist never feels real.

Ella is not honest because her construction as a character is so nonsensical that she hardly even feels like a human at all. Ella is just inherently good. Ella has no great want driving her forward. She has no motivation to serve as a guiding light for her actions. Instead feeling an empty vessel for director Brooks’ misplaced idealism.

And there is not enough soft Hans Zimmer score in the world to paper over the bizarre lack of consistency between the components of the script. It becomes downright disorienting to watch the film continue to stumble forward, accumulating no momentum as it keeps stepping on metaphorical rakes.

At least, Emma Mackey comes out of this relatively unscathed, committing gamely to a role that demands a lot, making a convincing case that she can hold a film in almost every scene. Alongside her, Jamie Lee Curtis and Albert Brooks, two veterans who can pretty much survive anything.

While the rest of the ensemble, filled with likeable performers like Woody Harrelson, Rebecca Hall, Jack Lowden, Kumail Nanjiani, Ayo Edebiri, Julie Kavner, Becky Ann Baker, and Spike Fearn are mostly stuck in rather thankless supporting roles. On the whole, ‘Ella McCay‘ is an odd political comedy-drama that struggles to sell its earnest tone.