Being the Ricardos

You’ll still love Lucy after watching the biopic Being the Ricardos, but you might not love writer-director Aaron Sorkin quite so much.

This ambitious behind-the-scenes glimpse into the lives and careers of early television power couple Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz includes plenty of amusing and enlightening anecdotes squeezed into an awkward narrative framework.

The film keeps circling back to a particularly stressful week during the second season of “I Love Lucy,” when various controversies disrupted production. Lucy (Nicole Kidman) was rumored to be a communist, which could ruin her career. She was pregnant and suspected Desi (Javier Bardem) of infidelity. Abundant flashbacks fill in the gaps from there.

One segment details their initial attraction on the set of a low-budget film where Desi finds such a strong-willed and opinionated diva alluring amid the usual collection of starlets he meets. Their romance blossoms, and so does the opportunity to grow their careers together through this new medium known as television.

Of course, “I Love Lucy” became a smash hit, pioneering the sitcom format. While Lucy thrived as a comedienne in a male-dominated industry, Desi broke barriers for Latinos on both sides of the camera. They also navigated friction between their otherwise nurturing co-stars, sarcastic William Frawley (J.K. Simmons) and outspoken Vivian Vance (Nina Arianda).

Familiarity with the show is irrelevant. The film works best as a tribute to Lucy’s feisty resilience and versatile talent, and the credit she earned but only much later received as a pioneer.

Kidman and Bardem convey a charming chemistry while capturing the spirit of their respective true-life characters — both the flamboyance on screen and the thoughtfulness backstage — even if they don’t necessarily replicate their speech or mannerisms.

As it peels back the curtain, Sorkin’s screenplay isn’t afraid to scrutinize its subjects while still showing unabashed affection for their accomplishments.

However, trying to dissect their relationship from multiple angles with witty banter in the tension of a smoke-filled writers’ room doesn’t yield much meaningful depth or insight. While condensing and weaving together a lot of material, the jumbled chronology maintains an emotional distance, building to a muddled and manipulative finale.

Being the Ricardos too often feels like it’s putting on a show rather than telling a story. Where Lucy and Desi could always draw laughs through pauses and nonverbal cues, Sorkin’s movie keeps talking without much to say.

Rated R, 131 minutes.