Ella McCay (12A)

James L. Brooks’ political dramedy is getting hammered by critics, who call it dated, overstuffed, and out of step. But who cares?

Ella McCay follows a 34-year-old lieutenant governor (Emma Mackey) who is abruptly elevated to the top job just as her personal life veers off course, including an imploding marriage, a troubled brother and a father who reappears after more than a decade away. An ensemble cast of heavy-hitters, including Woody Harrelson, Jamie Lee Curtis, Rebecca Hall, and Kumail Nanjiani are there to try to pick up the pieces.

Broadly appealing, well cast, neither strictly comic nor melodramatic, concerning ordinary people in non-IP circumstances, it’s the type of mid-budget adult film that used to appear regularly in cinemas in the 90s and 00s, before the streaming wars devoured the market. Even its lead promotional image (Mackey’s titular Ella in a sensible trench coat, balancing on one foot as she fixes a broken block heel) recalls a bygone era of films like Confessions of a Shopaholic, Miss Congeniality or Little Miss Sunshine.

We miss these types of movies, and want to see more of them.