The Stream: A stupid plot filled with corny, unfunny dialogue.

The Big Screen: N/A

The Final Bill: The movie is almost bad enough to be fun, but don’t waste your money on it.

– Trip Fontaine
Director: James L. Brooks
Writers: James L. Brooks
Stars: Emma Mackey, Woody Harrelson, Kumail Nanjiani, Spike Fearn, Ayo Edebiri, Jack Lowden, Rebecca Hall, Julie Kavner, Jamie Lee Curtis, Albert Brooks
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Rating: PG-13 for strong language, some sexual material and drug content
Runtime: 1 hour 47 minutes
Production Companies: 20th Century Studios, Gracie Films, Hurwitz Creative, TSG Entertainment
Platform: In theaters December 12, 2025
Notable Trailers: Reminders of Him, Wuthering Heights, Song Sung Blue, Project Hail Mary, Send Help

What’s up, Streamers! It’s Christmas week, which means more family time than you’ve had all year. All you need is a distraction, and you’ll make it through. Some families gather around playing games; some eat hearty meals; and still, some go to a nice family movie together. I think that’s what James L. Brooks and the studio behind Ella McCay intended its audience to be. In Ella McCay, Emma Mackey plays Ella, the youngest Lt. Governor of her state, who is thrust into the spotlight when the current governor gets tapped to be a part of the incoming Obama Administration, which means Ella will be the state’s youngest governor. Oh yeah, this movie is set in 2008. Anyway, Ella must navigate the transition of power while dealing with a percolating scandal, her reclusive brother and her philandering, estranged father. Policy posturing and small town political hijinks ensue.

Ella McCay is an outdated piece of cinema. Hollywood and James L. Brooks, in particular, used to make movies like this a lot back in the 1980s and 1990s, and many of them were witty and successful. Unfortunately, Brooks went back to the formula from 30 years ago and didn’t bother to update any of it. The fact that this movie is set in 2008 doesn’t help either. Does Brooks want to say something about the change in today’s political landscape? What’s else would be relevant for today’s audience? Who knows? This story is so dumb, and the characters are so annoying that it is too distracting to get any coherent theme from it.

Ella McCay is one of the dumbest characters that was on the big screen this year. She makes no sense as a politician. From what we can see, she barely does the job she has. She so mired in her family drama that it’s both distracting for her as the newly risen governor and for the audience. She’s not very personable, so how did she get elected in the first place? Furthermore, the storylines are all over the place and each one gets short shrift. The reclusive brother is a time suck. He’s annoying and stupid. The movie would not miss him if he were edited out. The estranged father is so much in the background that it’s surprising that Woody Harrelson took this part. Ella’s husband is so random and such an obvious plot device that it actively made me angry. What’s worse is that all of the dialogue is lame and corny. The acting tends towards overblown melodramatic antics. It’s bad across the board. Make sure to make an eye doctor appointment for after this movie because your eyes may get stuck from rolling them so much.

Ella McCay is definitely one of the worst movies I’ve seen this year. Your grandma will probably like it though.

Ultimately, Ella McCay can only aspire to be one of those so-bad-it’s-good kind of movies, but it falls short of that as well. It’s just bad with stupid characters saying things that are corny and doing things that are nonsense. The storylines don’t fit together, and all of the acting is questionable. Do not waste your time or money going to a theater for this movie.