'Ella McCay' Has A Big, Aggravating Twist, And I Had To Ask Jamie Lee Curtis And Emma Mackey About It

Cinema Blend

In a lot of ways, "Ella McCay" is just how it’s marketed to be. It’s a heartfelt and funny family comedy about a young woman who suddenly becomes governor from the legendary James L. Brooks (who is known for making movies that are impossible not to cry at). But, there’s one character turn I absolutely didn’t see coming in the latest of 2025 movie releases. So, I brought it up to stars Jamie Lee Curtis and Emma Mackey. Let’s get into it, and yes, SPOILERS are ahead!  In the second half of the movie, it becomes clearer and clearer to not only the audience but Ella that her husband pretty much sucks. Rather than supporting her in her big promotion as we expected he might, he demands that he have his own position alongside her. And when she doesn’t agree, he betrays her by playing the victim to the public with his own (and very untrue) version of a scandal they’d been trying to hide. Here’s how Mackey reacted to what happened between Ella and Ryan in our interview.

Transcript

00:00It's very hard to walk into a movie, like Jack Loudon did, to play a douchebag.

00:08It's very, very difficult to do.

00:13Do you remember when he came in? It was like this new burst of...

00:15But he came in with all of his charm and humor and complexity.

00:23He's fantastic in the movie.

00:25But it's very hard to do that.

00:27And he just came in and won us all.

00:31We all fell in love with him.

00:33But there's that great line.

00:34There's that hard truth that really hit me when I saw the movie,

00:39when you say, I think what I've always thought,

00:42that your husband is a ticking time bomb in your life.

00:45And you saying that, and the timing of it,

00:50and you kind of braving to take that step and say it's so impactful.

00:54And it's very telling because people stay sometimes for the wrong reasons.

00:59They stay attached to a version, a past version of their partner or their husband.

01:04And they hold on to that hope that, you know, it's going to be okay.

01:07And when we have a value system and we have to honor these values that we've created for ourselves,

01:12you know, this family unit we're trying to, you know, get going.

01:15But you've also chosen him for all the reasons why you would choose him.

01:20Exactly.

01:21Stable family.

01:22So it's part of it.

01:23Loving units from a broken family where that wasn't the norm.

01:27Yeah, but it's part of that whole package, I suppose.

01:31The big thing is given the kind of woman she is,

01:36which is also really a smart woman.

01:38And so why is she with him had to be answered.

01:45Why she was with him had to be all in him, his charm, what he said to her, what he saw in her.

01:52And he saw in her, you know, like, you know, he saw that, you know, they were high school sweethearts.

02:01And he was, you know, he was never going to want to go to college and she was headed for all this stuff.

02:08And it was a reason for him loving her.

02:11And the magic of that, you're going places and you don't even know where.

02:15And I'm going to go there with you.

02:18And so that's what he was, he, so it's love.

02:21He fell in love with her.

02:22That's sort of at the core of the love.

02:24And it backfires.

02:26I hope so.

02:27Thank you very much.

02:31I hope so.

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