Movie Review: Ella McCay

In the real world, outside the realms of fantasy that we usually concern ourselves with on this site, things have been (putting it mildly) a complete and utter shitshow for the majority of 2025. We can comfort ourselves by detaching from reality for a few hours when we watch a movie, but what happens when the movie we watch is too close a mirror to reality? I'm not talking about a film that uncomfortably grapples with reality; rather, I am talking about a narrative that feels almost naive in its portrayal of complex ideas.

Enter Ella McCay, a movie written and directed by James L. Brooks, about a young woman (Emma Mackey) who suddenly becomes governor of her home state as she is dealing with her brother in a mental health crisis, her father returning in an attempt to make amends, and her husband trying to find out how he can use her office to stoke his own ego. All the while, she is trying to push her legislative agenda.

If that feels like a lot for a movie with a just under two hour runtime, congratulations, you figured out what it is that makes this movie not work. Any one of these plotlines on their own, maybe two if it was the right two intertwined, would have worked, but all of this together is just a lot. This is especially true when the movie has to make time for the interpersonal relationship between members of her security detail, multiple flashbacks to her childhood, and a scene where her brother reconciles with his girlfriend which is only watchable because Ayo Edebiri is fantastic.

Still, the bloated mess movie is a genre into and of itself at this point with multiple films in this category being released in this year. Ella McCay is no better or worse than any of these movies, however it is the anachronistic nature of the film that is bringing it down with critics and audiences. Ella herself is Leslie Knope without the political savvy. She's smart, has big ideas, wants to use the government to help people, but just doesn't have the ability to articulate these ideas in a digestible way or do the fundraising to get herself elected. In this way, she's a relic of the time the movie takes place in (2009), but feels out of place in the current world of politics.

For me at least, it was this collision of the Obama-era political idealism (think Hamilton and Parks and Recreation) and the modern realities of politics that makes this mess of a movie stand out a bit. Because we are juxtaposing that with the more accurate to reality double standards when it comes to how women in politics are treated compared to their male counterparts, it feels a little different. The level of concern over her meeting with her husband in a government apartment may feel quaint in the face of the daily, systemic corruption experienced in reality on a daily basis, however the teeth-gnashing and wild blowing out of proportion of a mild scandal with an easy resolution does not feel too at-odds with both when this movie takes place and reality now.

Still, the movie is a jumbled mess. A lot of things occupy the screen but very little actually happens. Tonally, the movie cannot decide if it is a comedy or a drama so some scenes feel like they are occurring in a totally different movie from others, and they could come in sequential order. Couple that with a few moments of questionable ADR work and you have something that will largely be forgettable within a few months. That said, this is a 3/5 because at least it tries something and both Emma Mackey and Jamie Lee Curtis are great.

★★★