'Lucy and Desi' puts a heart around the 'I Love Lucy' stars' role as TV pioneers
CNN
"Lucy and Desi" puts a big heart around Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, not only as the beloved stars of "I Love Lucy" and one of Hollywood's great power couples, but as TV pioneers. Drawing upon personal recordings and home videos, director Amy Poehler has served up a warm valentine that leans into celebrating their lives and away from the tabloid fodder.
The documentary obviously serves as a sort of irresistible and logical companion to writer-director Aaron Sorkin's recent Amazon movie "Being the Ricardos," although in ways it's even more nostalgic and sentimental. In terms of Arnaz's serial infidelity, for example, it's basically left to their daughter, Lucie Arnaz Luckinbill, to note that her parents hurt each other -- him with his actions, and her with words.
What "Lucy and Desi" achieves most effectively is to capture the respective genius that the two brought not just to their show -- which originated the multicamera sitcom format -- but as producers more broadly. Detailing their respective backgrounds, it also presents their parallel rises to stardom before meeting on the RKO musical "Too Many Girls," with Arnaz recalling seeing Ball and thinking, "Oh man, that's a hunk of woman."
