Josh Reviews Lucy and Desi

There must be something in the zeitgeist!  I loved Aaron Sorkin’s film Being the Ricardos, which spotlighted the immensely talented Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, as well as their sometimes tempestuous romance.  And now, hot on the heels of that film, comes Amy Poehler’s wonderful documentary Lucy and Desi.  

The documentary examines the life and work of both Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, and it tracks the arc of their relationship together.

This is a wonderful documentary film.  It’s rich in detail, digging deeply into the lives of both Lucy and Desi, and the magic they were able to work together.  The film is packed full of wonderful clips and archival footage, supplemented by a delightful array of modern interviews conducted by Ms. Poehler and her team.

The result is a lively, joy-filled look at these two tremendously talented artists and comedians.  The film doesn’t avoid discussing the hard times in their lives and in their relationship.  But it never sinks into dour grimness.  Ms. Poehler keeps things moving and focused on the positive art that both Lucy and Desi were putting into the world.  At the same time, I found the film to be quite moving at times, particularly in the final moments chronicling the end of Desi’s life.

I loved the way the documentary was able to explore just what incredible creative forces both Lucy and Desi were.  On the one hand, we all know this.  I Love Lucy remains a much-loved giant in our culture and in television history.  At the same time, I think that both during I Love Lucy’s heyday, and even through ’till today, there’s been a lot of conflating of Lucy and Desi’s television personas with who they really were.  It is true, as we see in this documentary, that there was a lot of overlap there!  But through this doc, we get to learn more about who they both were as actual human beings.  Ms. Poehler has gotten a number of insightful interviews with people who really knew both Lucy and Desi: their children Lucie Arnaz (who is heard from extensively throughout the doc) and Desi Arnaz Jr., talents like Carol Burnett and Bette Midler, and others.  I enjoyed the insights from Gregg Oppenheimer, the son of I Love Lucy head writer Jess Oppenheimer.

Most importantly, we get to hear a lot from Lucy and Desi themselves.  The documentary makes use of incredible cassette tapes that Lucy recorded of herself, that her daughter Lucie Arnaz shared with Ms. Poehler’s team.  These pieces of audio are incredible, and they help allow us to get insight into what Lucy and Desi were thinking and feeling during the events chronicled in the film.

The doc, of course, spends a lot of time on the I Love Lucy show.  We get a lot of clips, and I was happy that we got to see some great snippets of the show beyond just the five most famous clips that everyone knows.  It’s incredible seeing just how hilarious Lucille Ball was on those episodes.  And I appreciated the attention given to the show’s many ground-setting breakthroughs (many of which were orchestrated by Desi): shooting on film live in front of a studio audience; inventing the idea of “re-runs”; and not only depicting the love story between a white woman and a Latino on television but also allowing Lucy to go through a pregnancy on the show.

I appreciated that the doc also gave a lot of attention to just how extraordinary and groundbreaking it was that Lucy and Desi created their own studio, one that Lucy ran on her own for years.  That’s an extraordinary achievement for a woman of that time.  And, as the doc notes, Desilu was responsible for creating a jaw-dropping array of popular and influential television shows, including Mission: Impossible and Star Trek.  (It’s true!  Without Lucy, there would be no Star Trek!!)

Amy Poehler, screenwriter Mark Monroe and editor Robert A. Martinez have combined to create a wonderful film, a beautiful tribute to two artistic giants.  This was a lot of fun to watch.

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