That Lucy & Desi movie last night

Cafe Society
1

I don’t know how they could have a 3-hour movie about Desi and Lucy that had no laughs or even much of any emotion.
These were two people full of personality, and surrounded by talented writers and crew, but all the actors could do was nod to each other instead of react believeably.

Everything was so tame it seemed like it had been heavily censored because they were afraid of the movie and syndicate empires who might claim damages if defamed.

And they didn’t even mention daughter Lucie Arnaz by name.
I got the feeling that the family resisted production so much they thought better than to give them any opportunity to sue.

2

i was disappointed as well. there was so much material there, and somehow they made a very boring movie about a very funny woman.

so sad.

3

The family did not support the movie.

About 10 or so years ago there was another Lucy and Desi movie.

I think it was a little bit better.

4

Nielsen ratings were very high for the show.

I didn’t watch it. Over the years, I think I have seen every frame of footage from I Love Lucy, and have seen about a dozen specials with “previously unseen footage”.

There have been so many testimonials and Biography series, etc. that the thought of watching actors rehash the whole, very-well known Luci/Desi story again just didn’t interest me. From what you guys have said, sounds like I made the right choice.

5

I didn’t think it was all that bad. I learned some things I did not know about them and their relationship. I really enjoyed seeing the woman who played Lucy in some of the episode scenes, she did a fantastic job.

6

The woman who played Lucy was okay when she wasn’t trying to recreate the scenes from the show. For example, when she was doing the vaudeville act onstage, her timing was nothing like Lucy’s in the video made (it came out on VHS a while ago; I have it, but can’t remember what they called it. The Pilot?).

I didn’t like how they skipped around so much. I used to be obsessed with ILL, so I knew where they were going with the scenes, but I got confused when they skipped entire decades. And the kids! They hardly ever showed the kids, and each of them only had a few lines.

I can see why the movie wasn’t endorsed. It just didn’t really capture the actual story. I don’t think any movie ever really will.

7

Just a question:

Wasn’t ILL actually called the Lucy-Decy Comedy show? I saw them referring to it as ILL on the set and I thought that ILL was the name it acquired in syndication. Or am i remembering this backwards?

Chris W