Weekend Event Planner

These are the 9 best things to do in Dallas this weekend

Gabriel “Fluffy” Iglesias will perform at American Airlines Center on January 22.

Gabriel Iglesias/Facebook

There will be nice diversity to the events in and around Dallas this weekend. You can catch the final days of an immersive art exhibit, a Tony Award-winning musical, a classical music concert, appearances by three big-name comedians, a unique virtual reality experience, new local theater, and the latest edition of a long-running kids film festival.

Below are the best ways to spend your precious free time this weekend.

Thursday, January 20

Dallas Summer Musicals presents Hadestown
Hadestown intertwines two mythic tales — that of young dreamers Orpheus and Eurydice, and that of King Hades and his wife Persephone — as it invites the audience on a hell-raising journey to the underworld and back. Singer-songwriter Anaïs Mitchell’s beguiling melodies and director Rachel Chavkin’s poetic imagination pit industry against nature, doubt against faith, and fear against love. The musical will play at Winspear Opera House through January 30.

Dallas Symphony Orchestra presents "Trifonov Plays Brahms"
Dallas Symphony Orchestra presents "Trifonov Plays Brahms," featuring pianist Daniil Trifinov and conductor Fabio Luisi. Selections for the concert, playing at Meyerson Symphony Center through Sunday, will include Brahms' Piano Concerto No. 1 and Schmidt's Symphony No. 4.

Heather McMahan: The Farewell Tour
The 33-year-old Heather McMahan is closer to the start of her career than the end of it, but that didn't stop her from calling her new tour The Farewell Tour. A self-described "high functioning hot mess," the comedian will perform three times through Saturday at Majestic Theatre.

Friday, January 21

Nasher Sculpture Center presents CARNE y ARENA (Virtually present, Physically invisible)
The Nasher Sculpture Center, in partnership with the George W. Bush Presidential Center, will present the virtual reality exhibition CARNE y ARENA (Virtually present, Physically invisible), conceived by Academy Award-winning writer and director Alejandro G. Iñárritu. The immersive experience is a 20-minute solo journey centered around a multi-narrative virtual reality sequence based on true accounts reenacted by Central American and Mexican refugees. The experience, located inside the Food & Fiber Pavilion at Fair Park, will take place through April 17.

Mainstage Irving - Las Colinas presents Anna in the Tropics
Exotic and enticing, Anna in the Tropics is a poetic play set in 1929 in a Floridian Cuban American cigar factory. It’s a place where cigars are still rolled by hand and “lectors” are employed to read newspapers, poetry, and novels to the workers. The new lector reads Tolstoy's Anna Karenina unaware that the passions it inflames will spin the listeners’ relationships out of control. The play will run through February 5 at Irving Arts Center.

Improv Addison presents Adam Ferrara
Adam Ferrara is a stand-up comedian and actor who hosted the show Top Gear USA. Ferrara has had parts in shows like Rescue Me and Nurse Jackie, and in movies like Paul Blart: Mall Cop and Definitely Maybe. He'll perform five times through Sunday at Improv Addison.

Saturday, January 22

USA Film Festival presents KidFilm
The USA Film Festival presents the 38th Annual KidFilm Family Festival, the oldest and largest-attended children’s film festival in the United States. Highlights of this year’s program, taking place at Angelika Film Center in Dallas on Saturday and Sunday, include the new animated feature film Maya the Bee 3: The Golden Orb; new live-action feature films The Wolf and the Lion, The Time Guardians, Kung Fu Girl, Dwarf Long Nose, JimButton and the Wild 13, and Birta; and over 25 short films.

Gabriel “Fluffy” Iglesias: Back On Tour
Comedian Gabriel “Fluffy” Iglesias is the star and executive producer of Mr. Iglesias on Netflix, and has a comedy stand-up special, One Show Fits All, also on Netflix. Feature film credits include co-starring roles in Magic Mike, Magic Mike XXL, and A Haunted House 2. He's also provided voices for many animated films, most recently Space Jam: A New Legacy and Ugly Dolls. He'll perform at American Airlines Center.

Sunday, January 23

"Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience"
If you haven't had a chance to catch "Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience" at Choctaw Stadium in Arlington, this weekend is your last chance, as it closes on Sunday after a five-month stay. The 360-degree, immersive digital art experience illuminates and transforms a unique physical space into a fully immersive exhibit, where Van Gogh’s work takes over the walls via digital projections and VR experiences.

Gabriel “Fluffy” Iglesias will perform at American Airlines Center on January 22.

Gabriel Iglesias/Facebook

Gabriel “Fluffy” Iglesias will perform at American Airlines Center on January 22.

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Movie Review

Legendary filmmaker makes tepid return with meandering film Ella McCay

Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios

Emma Mackey in Ella McCay.

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.

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Ella McCay opens in theaters on December 12.

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