“I can’t trust my brain right now,” says our heroine Ella, deep in James L. Brooks’s astonishingly incoherent, uneven, unfunny and illogical “Ella Mackay.”
And finally, after almost two hours of confusing storyline, we have some clarity of thought. No, honey, we're telling Ella, played by the lovely Emma McKee, who really is the only reason to watch this whole thing. No, your brain is fine (and, by the way, what a depressing phrase to put into the mouth of your smartest character – a hardworking woman in politics). This is your script that can't be trusted, Ella! Run away from it. Now.
It's hard to understand how “Ella McKay,” writer-director Brooks's first original feature film in 15 years, went awry. Is this really the same mind that wrote the memorable Broadcast News? “Terms of Endearment”? “As good as it gets”? We see a small hint in the studio's press notes, which mention that Brooks began his script “without a specific storyline in mind.”
Hm. Perhaps this (unintentionally) explains this tangle of half-baked characters and subplots—each more mind-boggling than the next, but also boring—and the improbable ending, by which we mean implausible. What's even less believable is that smart supporting actors like Jamie Lee Curtis, Ayo Edebiri, Woody Harrelson and Rebecca Hall didn't quit in protest of the lack of consistency. (Well, actually, Hall left within minutes.)
The main action takes place over three days in 2008 in an unnamed state. The aggressively folksy Julie Kavner as narrator tells us that Ella is a wonderful and very smart person, and at 34, she is one of the youngest people to hold the post of lieutenant governor.
She is also a moral compass – both in the cutthroat world of politics, where she just wants to pass good laws that will help good people, and in her dysfunctional family. That family includes her wily father (Harrelson, funny at times), who, in a flashback to when Ella was 16, loses his job in a sexual harassment scandal.
Soon after, when Ella's mother (Hall, wasted) tells her that Dad is moving the family to California, Ella insists on staying at her school. She will live with her faithful and loving Aunt Helen (Curtis), who is running for office, of course! – a diner next door.
Fast forward 18 years and Ella is called away by her boss, the Governor (Albert Brooks). He tells her that he is applying for a cabinet position, which means Ella will be interim governor. “There’s no other way to do this,” he notes helpfully.
There is one sticky problem. Ella is involved in a scandal; she had an affair with her own husband while dining in a room that formally belonged to the state. (Yes, this is the best scandal they could come up with.)
Plus, there's a reporter who knows about this, and he's trying to extort money from her in exchange for better access (to what, it's unclear). Her husband does this. So we go back to high school and meet Ryan, who seems nice enough (but really funny in a high school kid way – there was clearly no anti-aging budget there).
Either way, Ryan (Jack Lowden) is now ready to become the state's first gentleman. We see how much Ella likes his laid-back appearance. But then, poof, he suddenly becomes a complete jerk and we can't believe Ella would even think of marrying such a jerk. But there is a lot going on here that we don't even think about.
So Ella becomes governor. Hooray! But Ryan is upset that he was suspended. In a quickly abandoned subplot involving his mother, he threatens to leave Ella unless she allows him to participate in management. If only Ella had listened to Helen, who, in advice that is ignored, tells her that Ryan is “a ticking time bomb in your life.” Perhaps this is the only decent line given to poor Curtis in the entire film.
Then we have the strange story of Ella's agoraphobic little brother Casey (Spike Fearn) and his ex-would-be girlfriend Susan (Edebiri). In a long episode that seems to come out of nowhere, like a subplot about cops and overtime – don't ask! — Casey works up the courage to find Susan and ask her to be his girlfriend. The talented Edebiri is almost worth the price of your ticket – she's adorable. But the scene is ridiculous.
Finally someone just says, “This script is a complete mess.” Oh wait – these are just notes in my review notebook.
One way or another, everything comes to a head in a confrontation with Ella’s political opponents. We won't give away any details, but soon after, when Ella and Helen are screaming in the living room – well, just for fun – it's tempting to join in.
Like them, we are confused. We're annoyed. And we won’t get those two hours back.
“Ella McKay,” a film from 20th Century Studios, is rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association “for strong language, some sexual content and drug content.” Duration: 115 minutes. One star out of four.
