4/2/2022 – 13+ – 1 hr 32 min – Prime Video

Alan: ⭐⭐⭐⭐✩

Michelle: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Amy Poehler directs Lucy and Desi, a documentary about Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. They both came from nothing, worked hard, and built a Hollywood studio. This documentary is an inspiring look at how hard work and talent can lead to something great.

Michelle: Lucy and Desi uses standard documentary interviews of people who knew them and TV and film clips as well as audio tapes the Ricardos recorded at home to tell the story. I love a good documentary, and Lucy and Desi is one of the good ones that is entertaining while showing a glimpse into a world not usually on display. The story of the I Love Lucy show’s origins and the Ricardo’s romance were very interesting.

Alan: It felt really special hearing the recordings of Lucille Ball. We watched the dramatization of their life, Being the Ricardos, a few weeks ago. Hearing her talk about her life, candidly and unscripted, gave me goosebumps.

Michelle: The clips about Lucy are a master class in how to make it in Hollywood and how to handle interview questions and award speeches. In interview clips, she never says anything negative and always points out that she is thankful and happy to be working. When she has to take over as President of Desilu studios, she talks about how she works double time because she is on stage every day as well as running the studio company. But, she makes sure to say that the studio management work is interesting to her. Her words are precise and unfailingly make the point she wants to make with tact and grace. 

Alan: It is even more amazing when you consider the prejudices against them both at the time. The movie points out that it was scandalous for Lucy, a white woman, to marry Desi, a Cuban who was considered “not white” at the time. 

Michelle: Lucy and Desi shows clips of Lucy talking about how she would take any job offered when she got to Hollywood. She said she treated all the jobs, including work on B-movies as a well paid internship. The documentary showcases Lucy’s hard work and good attitude. 

If this were a drama instead of a documentary, there would probably be a scene of Lucy wanting to quit or being resentful over some slight. But, in the documentary which only shows her public face, there is only the professional, hard worker who enjoys the work and doesn’t air any grievances or complaints. 

Alan: Being the Ricardos showed the same image of her. She was able to maintain a good attitude, but she wasn’t a pushover. She fought for the creative choices she believed were the best. The most amazing thing that I learned was that because of budget constraints, many scenes in I Love Lucy were shot only once because shooting on film was expensive, so multiple takes cost too much. It raises my estimation of her talent even higher than it already was.

Michelle: Lucy and Desi is a fun documentary to watch to learn about how Lucy and Desi made it big in Hollywood. It shows all the good sides of Lucy and Desi, probably because it is made with a lot of input from their daughter Lucy Arnaz. If there is anything negative to say about Lucy and Desi, it’s not in this film. The positive, public side of the Lucy and Desi story is enough to spend on an enjoyable evening. I give this five stars.

Alan: I laughed out loud at so many of the clips from Lucy’s shows. Her work holds up today. I’m giving Lucy and Desi four stars as a documentary. It was interesting and put together well, but aside from the clips that made me laugh, I didn’t have much of an emotional reaction to it. I think it was also a little slow in places.