'Being the Ricardos' examines why we love Lucille Ball (and Nicole Kidman)

Hey, I had a rough few days at work last week. Want to spend millions of dollars to make a movie about it?

I'm not seeing many hands and that's the issue with "Being the Ricardos." Nicole Kidman, the rare actor who says she chooses parts that scare her and actually walks that walk, plays the comic icon. Actually, it's two tricky roles: Lucy Ricardo, whom we see in re-creations of the 1950s series "I Love Lucy," and Ball. Offstage, the latter is shown as a smart, decisive businessperson who earned the respect of colleagues because she got things done.

Kidman doesn't try to sound like Lucy (either of them) and her speaking voice is distracting at first but it's also a fascinating choice to remind us of the performer behind the character(s). The comparison between Kidman and Ball, two actor/producers at the top of their craft, may be subconscious but it's there and it helps us realize how far ahead of her time Lucy was. (She launched a TV empire after the movie industry told her she was washed up at 37.) In a way, Kidman's takes on Lucy and Lucille work both as virtuosic acting and as tributes to an inimitable performer.

The rest of the "I Love Lucy" crew is here, too: Javier Bardem is smoothly intelligent as on- and off-screen partner Desi Arnaz. J.K. Simmons brings warmth to gravelly William Frawley, who played neighbor Fred. And Nina Arianda's Viv — Lucy's pal/Fred's long-suffering wife — helps us understand the affection and envy between the female costars.

Here's the thing, though. Those performances, under the direction of writer Aaron Sorkin, lavish attention on a story that feels extremely small potatoes.

"Being the Ricardos" takes place during a week when the House Un-American Activities Committee accused Ball of being a Communist, threatening to end the hit show. (The movie's conceit is that Ball simultaneously became pregnant, a TV no-no at the time, although the events did not actually coincide.)

Sorkin, whose dialogue-heavy writing is the exact opposite of the physical gags on "I Love Lucy," gives us entree to backroom discussions about the baby and the accusations. It's involving enough — Sorkin could make a movie about sloths and there'd be snappy banter. But a 70-year-old situation comedy controversy is low-stakes stuff, particularly since every person who cares enough to watch "Ricardos" already knows how this turned out: She had the baby. She kept doing the series. She did four more.

What keeps us engaged is Kidman, who makes sure "Ricardos" understands not just the icon but the human who created her.

'Being the Ricardos'

**1/2 out of 4 stars

Rated: R for language.

Where: In area theaters. On Amazon Dec. 21.