I remember watching I Love Lucy as a child and not giving much thought to the diversity aspects of the show. To be fair, when the show aired in its first run, there were no diversity aspects. And in re-runs, diversity was just taking hold.

The appearance of white men in charge was standard operating procedure and women with opinions were… unladylike. It wasn’t until much later it was revealed that the brains of the organization was the Cuban…

Being the Ricardos is an inside look at all of that through a week in the process of shooting a show.

Story: I’m still thinking about how clever it is to get to the subtle points of Lucille Ball and Ricky Ricardo’s life together through the show process. The story captures all of the rumors – Ricky was in charge of the entire show. Lucille was a stickler for process and delivery and everything they did was ground-breaking.

How they met, Lucille’s rise to stardom and they’re eventual marriage weaved into the point of the show that they were shooting was brilliant. And I can’t forget the documentary style character cameos that fill in some of the behind-the-scenes encounters… they’re a critical element to illustrate a point of view from the outside looking in.

Performances: Javier Bardem is Ricky Ricardo and Nicole Kidman is Lucille Ball. Both are nominated for Academy Awards. Both delivered solid performances. But neither passed my litmus test.

I could still see Nicole Kidman in Lucille Ball and Javier Bardem in Ricky Ricardo. And as expected, there were other performances that were exactly as expected. J. K. Simmons as William Frawley/Fred Mertz came across as the wise-cracking, no-nonsense, see you across the street at the bar kinda guy and Nina Arianda as Vivian Vance/Ethel Mertz came across as the plain-Jane sidekick looking for validation next to the star. More of the real life rumors come true…

Expected. Delivered. Good job. But no Oscar’s here…

Visual: 1940’s, 1950’s California never looked so good. Sets and backdrops are spot-on… wardrobe is spot on… sound states… Spot. On. Most notable image: Lucille Ball was not a natural redhead. The transformation from brunette to redhead is the movie’s and Lucille’s career highlight… 💯

Rating: A- The slight deduction is because there just isn’t enough of it. This is one of those stories for which I got lost in it. What about little Ricky and Lucy? What happened after they got divorced? Who got what? So many unanswered questions. More than possible to fit in two hours…

Being the Ricardos turns on the story. See it for a brief but poignant look into their lives…