Ella McCay (2025) 20th Century/Comedy-Drama RT: 115 minutes Rated PG-13 (strong language, some sexual material, drug material) Director: James L. Brooks Screenplay: James L. Brooks Music: Hans Zimmer Cinematography: Robert Elswit Release date: December 12, 2025 (US) Cast: Emma Mackey, Jamie Lee Curtis, Jack Lowden, Kumail Nanjiani, Ayo Edebiri, Julie Kavner, Spike Fearn, Rebecca Hall, Albert Brooks, Woody Harrelson, Becky Ann Baker, Erica McDermott, Sheetal Sheth.
Rating: **
The new comedy-drama from writer-director James L. Brooks Ella McCay is the very definition of mediocrity. There’s nothing to hate about it. There’s nothing to like about it either. It’s lightweight to the point of barely existing. It’s just there.
I approached Ella McCay the same way I open a new tube of toothpaste, with complete indifference. It has everything to do with the director. Brooks has a spotty track record. Of his six feature films, he’s done one great one (As Good as It Gets), two good (Terms of Endearment and Broadcast News), two fair (I’ll Do Anything and How Do You Know) and one terrible (Spanglish). It’s been 15 years since the 85YO filmmaker’s last movie (the instantly forgettable How Do You Know) and almost 30 since his last good one (As Good as It Gets). The trailer didn’t fill me with a lot of confidence. Ella McCay didn’t look awful, but it didn’t look great either. It looked like a movie you might see on Lifetime on a weekday afternoon.
There are absolutely no surprises in Ella McCay. The title character, played by Emma Mackey (Sex Education), has a messy personal life. She’s unhappily married to a selfish jerk named Ryan (Lowden, Fighting with My Family). Her estranged father Eddie (Harrelson, The People vs. Larry Flynt) wants to make amends for all his years of being a lousy dad. Her younger brother Casey (Fearn, Alien: Romulus) is a socially awkward recluse who hasn’t left his apartment in over a year yet he insists he’s not agoraphobic. Her only real familial support is the overbearing aunt (Curtis, Everything Everywhere All at Once) who took her in as a teen.
Her professional life is slightly better. Ella is the lieutenant governor of her state (it’s never named). She suddenly finds herself promoted to governor when her former boss (big brother Albert) resigns to accept a position in Obama’s cabinet (the story is set in 2008). Ella isn’t exactly well-liked by her colleagues. She’s too pushy and ambitious. Her top priority is getting a bill passed that would benefit young mothers and their children. Unfortunately, she immediately finds herself at the center of a scandal involving misuse of a government-owned apartment. Naturally, not-too-bright Ryan is going to make it worse when he tries to “help”.
Earlier, I used the term “messy” to describe Ella’s personal life. It could also describe the script. It’s not so much a screenplay as it is a hodge-podge of plot threads hastily tied together. It’s disjointed, underdeveloped and all over the place. Some subplots, like the one involving Casey wanting to reach out to a girlfriend (Edebiri, After the Hunt) he ghosted after an awkward conversation a year ago, are half-baked. It has serious tonal issues as well. Brooks can’t decide if he’s making a comedy, drama or political satire so he tries to do all three which makes for a noticeably uneven viewing experience. I didn’t know what I watching half the time.
The performances are similarly all over the place. Some, like Harrelson and Curtis (who gets all the best lines), act like they’re in a completely different movie. Others, like Edebiri and Rebecca Hall (The Town) as Ella’s mother, don’t get enough screen time to establish their characters. That’s one of the most frustrating things about Ella McCay. It has a strong supporting cast that also includes Kumail Nanjiani (The Big Sick) as Ella’s head of security and Julie Kavner (The Simpsons) as Ella’s personal assistant. Brooks doesn’t take the time to develop their characters. Then there’s Mackey in the lead. She comes off as a discount version of Anne Hathaway.
None of the characters feel real or relatable. Ella is the type of person who overcompensates in trying to fix things. It’s the result of growing up in an unfixable family. She should have been an interesting and sympathetic protagonist; instead, she’s ditzy and annoying. Plus, we only ever see Ella in crisis mode. I felt like I didn’t get to know her at all. As such, why should I care if she ever gets her life together?
To be fair, not all of Ella McCay is wrong-headed. The relationship between Ella and her brother is sweet. She’s always been protective of him and although he doesn’t always love it, he loves her. The only aspect of this plot thread that falls flat is when she inadvertently gets stoned with him. It feels cribbed from a different, funnier movie. Other than that, this part of Ella McCay works a little better than the rest.
I have no strong feelings about Ella McCay either way. It’s just okay in every respect from the storylines to the generic music score by Hans Zimmer. In the end, it falls flat. It makes me wonder why Brooks bothered at all. It’s not the kind of film that should draw a filmmaker out of retirement. Anybody could have made this movie. It’s definitely not worth the price of admission. It’s a streaming movie if ever there was one.
