Jackie Alfaro

I have heard a lot of buzz about Nicole Kidman not being right for this role. Nothing could be further from the truth. No woman on this earth could be Lucille Ball but Nicole came as close to the voice, the mannerisms and the essence of this woman. We rarely ever saw Lucille Ball. We saw the character Lucy Ricardo. Lucille was nothing like Lucy Ricardo. This film is about there personal lives with the backdrop being the show not the other way around. Lucy was strong willed, had an absolutely amazing eye for timing and content which was brought out beautifully here in this film. She was a brilliant business woman as well. Nobody stepped on her. I had not realized how involved she was in the actual shows and what we saw on screen. We have a mental and emotional picture of her that is engrained making it nearly impossible for Nicole to win over anyone but after about 30 minutes in she got me and I am pretty hard to please when it comes to this woman who I admired so much. At the end of the film it stated Lucy and Desi divorced March 1960. I was born Sept 1961 yet I am a huge I love Lucy fan as well as all of the other series that she appeared in until the day she died. The writing of this film is brilliant as expected from the one, the only Aaron Sorkin. Javier Bardem nailed Desi/Ricky. The chemistry was electric between them and also very sad at the end. It is obvious throughout this film how much they loved each other. JK Simmons: I could hear William Frawley and then some. He brought a real depth to this part. Again behind the scenes were so interesting to see. Nina Arianda who I am only slightly familiar with nailed Vivian Vance aka Ethel. What was so fascinating was to see how Lucille stuck her neck out for Desi and he for her. The last scenes where he gets J Edgar Hoover to say Lucy is completely cleared of being a communist made the ending a tear jerker. The other revelation was that during the 50's and 60's the role of women and men were very different and Lucy was a groundbreaker. The marriage didn't work because she overshadowed him. She never wanted that but it just was the way it was. I hope Nicole and the entire cast gets what they are due, Oscar nominations. These actors worked very hard on these parts knowing the criticism would be large.