Editor’s note: Another week has come and gone, and there’s a lot we all probably missed. But we’re looking out for you, kid. Here are the most popular stories from this past week:
1. Real Housewives of Dallas must be a throwaway for Bravo. On other, more glamorous Real Housewives shows, the ladies often jet off to Bali or Banff or the Bahamas for a super-glam on-camera vacation. On episode nine of Real Housewives of Dallas, the Bravo network saw fit only to schlep the gals down to Lake Travis for two nights. On a bus.
3. Dallas could see one of the largest rent hikes in the nation this year. Rents across the nation are currently at an all-time high, and Dallas is especially feeling the pinch. A new study from RentCafe confirms that Dallas is among the 20 metros with the highest projected rent hikes for 2016.
4.Southwest Airlines launches flash sale with cheap deals on fall travel. Earlier this week, Southwest Airlines launched a major flash sale featuring big discounts on domestic and international flights this fall. Travelers could take advantage of one-way fares as low as $49 (for select cities and dates) — as long as they booked by June 9 at 11:59 pm.
5. New service chauffeurs commuters from Dallas to Houston for less. Transportation companies are loving Dallas in a big way. We've got Uber, Lyft, Megabus, Vonlane, and Zipcar, and now, we'll be the first to get a brand-new commuter bus route from a technology startup called Shofur.
Be prepared for rents to climb in Dallas this year.
Photo courtesy of Zillow
Be prepared for rents to climb in Dallas this year.
The impact that writer/director/producer James L. Brooks has made on Hollywood cannot be understated. The 85-year-old created The Mary Tyler Moore Show, personally won three Oscars for Terms of Endearment, and was one of the driving forces behind The Simpsons, among many other credits. Now, 15 years after his last movie, he’s back in the directing chair with Ella McCay.
The similarly-named Emma Mackey plays Ella, a 34-year-old lieutenant governor of an unnamed state in 2008 who’s on the verge of becoming governor when Governor Bill (Albert Brooks) gets picked to be a member of the president’s Cabinet. What should be a happy time is sullied by her needy husband, Ryan (Jack Lowden), her agoraphobic brother, Casey (Spike Fearn), and her perpetually-cheating father, Eddie (Woody Harrelson).
Despite the trio of men competing to bring her down, Ella remains an unapologetic optimist, an attitude bolstered by her aunt Helen (Jamie Lee Curtis), her assistant Estelle (Julie Kavner), and her police escort, Trooper Nash (Kumail Nanjiani). The film follows her over a few days as she navigates the perils of governing, the distractions her family brings, and the expectations being thrust upon her by many different people.
Brooks, who wrote and directed the film, is all over the place with his storytelling. What at first seems to be a straightforward story about Ella and her various issues soon starts meandering into areas that, while related to Ella, don’t make the film better. Prime among them are her brother and father, who are given a relatively small amount of screentime in comparison to the importance they have in her life. This is compounded by a confounding subplot in which Casey tries to win back his girlfriend, Susan (Ayo Edebiri).
Then there’s the whole political side of the story, which never finds its focus and is stuck in the past. Though it’s never stated explicitly, Ella and Governor Bill appear to be Democrats, especially given a signature program Ella pushes to help mothers in need. But if Brooks was trying to provide an antidote to the current real world politics, he doesn’t succeed, as Ella’s full goals are never clear. He also inexplicably shows her boring her fellow lawmakers to tears, a strange trait to give the person for whom the audience is supposed to be rooting.
What saves the movie from being an all-out train wreck is the performances of Mackey and Curtis. Mackey, best known for the Netflix show Sex Education, has an assured confidence to her that keeps the character interesting and likable even when the story goes downhill. Curtis, who has tended to go over-the-top with her roles in recent years, tones it down, offering a warm place of comfort for Ella to turn to when she needs it. The two complement each other very well and are the best parts of the movie by far.
Brooks puts much more effort into his female actors, including Kavner, who, even though she serves as an unnecessary narrator, gets most of the best laugh lines in the film. Harrelson is capable of playing a great cad, but his character here isn’t fleshed out enough. Fearn is super annoying in his role, and Lowden isn’t much better, although that could be mostly due to what his character is called to do. Were it not for the always-great Brooks and Nanjiani, the movie might be devoid of good male performances.
Brooks has made many great TV shows and movies in his 60+ year career, but Ella McCay is a far cry from his best. The only positive that comes out of it is the boosting of Mackey, who proves herself capable of not only leading a film, but also elevating one that would otherwise be a slog to get through.
