By Jackson TOYON

James L. Brooks has been in the business for 60 years. Getting his start on “The Andy Griffith Show,” he went on to become the co-creator of “The Simpsons” (alongside Matt Groening) and the legendary director of the best picture-winning film “Terms of Endearment.” An ever-ready battery, even at the age of 85, for the first time in 15 years Brooks is making a return to the director’s chair for a film. He has something of a knack for telling stories about people with messy lives trying to succeed … and this film doesn’t stray from that idea.

Ella McCay (Emma Mackey) is the lieutenant governor of an unnamed New England state amid the Great Recession. She’s an educated, idealistic woman with a strong commitment to public service. Those in politics would call her a “policy wonk”  – someone with a talent for policymaking and a sometimes-off-putting passion for the minutiae of everything she pushes, causing the other members of her party to find her grating. She excels at the intended work of a politician but has never been so skilled at the more disappointing and realistic aspects of the job – campaigning, schmoozing donors and scratching other politicians’ backs. 

Despite her successful career, Ella faces a litany of issues on the home front. Her husband Ryan (Jack Lowden) has become increasingly unhelpful and unsympathetic. Her estranged father Eddie (Woody Harrelson) is trying to reconnect with her after he threw her life into chaos by cheating on her now-deceased mother. Her brother Casey (Spike Fearn) has nearly disappeared from society, and she seeks comfort and advice from her most stable guardian, her aunt Helen (Jamie Lee Curtis). When her boss and friend Governor Bill Moore (Albert Brooks) hears that he will be tapped for the new administration’s cabinet, Ella is plunged into a frantic balancing act of quelling family problems that threaten to topple her career as interim governor.

The film’s largest underlying issue, much like the conflict in the story, is that it juggles too much. It tries to squeeze what seems like a full television season’s worth of plot threads into one sub-two hour movie and that simply isn’t enough for everything the film wants to accomplish. All the characters and relationships feel like they have the ingredients to potentially be great but only a couple of them are given enough time and attention to be satisfying. Governor Bill makes his limited screen time impactful and the relationship between Ella and Casey, though mostly dominated by a particular scene, is lovely and amusing. But characters like Ryan that begin with a more real and human foundation curdle into caricature, and Ella’s father is reduced to a few scenes that fail to fully explore the lasting impact he’s had on her life.

Still, this film is not without merit. Emma Mackey provides a strong central performance, especially in times where she is allowed to let loose and be vulnerable, usually around her most trusted family. She shares the finest scene in the movie with her brother Casey as they catch up – Ella passionately goes on and on about what she wants to accomplish for the community in her new position and an anxious Spike Fearn gets to show his chops as well. Jamie Lee Curtis, while not at the top of her game as Ella’s warm and caring aunt Helen, is impossible not to like. Even Kumail Nanjiani, who has in recent years felt typecast as a funny man since his memorable character in HBO’s “Silicon Valley,” has a nicely understated and more grounded role in this film.

“Ella McCay” harkens back to the light dramedies that Hollywood has largely moved away from – where extensive visual effects work isn’t needed and the stakes don’t have to be much higher than the consequences wrought on a person’s job and relationships by personal scandal. The pieces are strong, the intentions are sincere, its optimism is refreshing and the film has its share of humor – even if it suffers from the plot threads it leaves unfinished to make its runtime. Perhaps it would work better as a limited series – but if what I’ve described is an era of Hollywood you miss, then this film could be for you.

Rated PG-13.