Review: She'd like to change the world, but the script of 'Ella McCay' is running against her

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Film fans like to lament: They don’t make them like they used to, specifically the kind of wry, life-affirming dramedies that director James L.Brooks perfected back in the 1980s and ’90s like “Terms of Endearment,” “Broadcast News” and “As Good as It Gets.” Movies of that tone and character are rare these days, so it’s worth noting when a new one comes along.

But with Brooks’ latest, the deeply strange “Ella McCay,” he doesn’t make them like he used to either.“Ella McCay” is a portrait of a lady on fire, from stress.The quirky, twitchy Ella (Emma Mackey, horrifically bewigged) is the youngest lieutenant governor in her unnamed state, an awkward policy wonk serving under her mentor, Gov.

Bill Moore (Albert Brooks).When he’s tapped for the Cabinet, Ella gets the promotion that she craves, sworn in as the youngest female governor of her state, even as her family life descends into chaos.

But Ella’s family life has always been chaotic, as we see in flashbacks to her teenage years, wherein our narrator describes how Ella experiences seeing other happy families — as a stab in the heart.Our narrator is Estelle (Julie Kavner, best known as the voice of Marge Simpson), Ella’s secretary, who explains that she’s biased, claiming “I’m nuts about her.” The year, by the way, is 2008, “when we could still talk to each other.” So Brooks sets this political film in the recent past, giving a wide berth to the third rail that is MAGA.But by shrinking away from political hot buttons, he renders the whole gambit frustratingly vague and meaningless.

Ella lives in the “state,” she runs afoul of the “party,” but skirting these details feels too timid.It’s clear that Ella’s politics are liberal, as she champions a bill designed to support parents and kids in early childhood (she tears up over “tooth tutors”).

But why play coy with the ...